LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



flap ©upgrig]^ In 

Shelf ..tS.lE- 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



A QUIZ MANUAL 



OF THE 



Theory and Practice 



OF 



TEACHING. 



BY 

/ 

ALBERT P. SOUTHWICK, A.M., 

AUTHOR OF ** HANDY HELPS," " SHORT STUDIES IN LITERATURE," " QUIZZISM ; 
AND ITS KEY," " DIME SERIES OF QUESTION BOOKS," ETC. 

-NGTO^ 

New York and Chicago : 
E. L. KELLOGG & CO., 




IBISSS 
.S7Z 



''Zhc ZTeacber is tbe Soul of tbe Scbool/' 
''Uq tbe ZTeacber is, 00 10 tbe Scbool/' 

tlbinhfng, not ^rowtb, makea manbooD^ Bccuetom 
150ur6clt, tberetorc, to tbinhtn^. Set yourself to imDcr= 
6tanD wbatev>er ^ou ecc or reaD. ^o join tbin?^in^ wltb 
reading is one of tbe first majimB, anD one ot tbe 

eaaieet operations^ —Isaac Taylor. 



Copyright, 1888, A. P. SOUTHWICK. 



PREFACE. 



Aware of the fact that a work of this nature invites 
criticism because the canons of pedagogy are not 
fixed and immutable like those of mathematics, and 
that there are opposing views on all the subjects here 
discussed, the writer has refrained from making 
statements that may seem dogmatic, and has tried 
to avoid all appearance of inviting antagonistic re- 
flections, or of conflicting with general professional 
opinion. The teacher should know that there is pre- 
eminently no " The Method." Method is the out- 
growth of philosophy, and must adjust itself to the 
laws of mind and to the exigencies of science. The 
power of every true teacher is in himself, his person- 
ality, his character, his spirit, and his attainments. 

*^ The science of teaching is abroad one, embracing 
many laws, and the facts to be noted in actual w^ork 
are of sufficient importance to induce the thoughtful 
student to study its philosophy. The true teacher 
ever seeks to classify the facts daily observed in his 
teaching, drawing a distinction between those on the 
one hand which lead to nothing, and those which 
furnish the ground-work to laws and principles 



4 Preface. 

which make teaching a distinct profession. Use 
more facts ; look for more laws ; study the relation 
of the one to the other." 

No apology is offered for the repetition of certain 
ideas in the text, the duplication of which is essential 
to a thorough analysis of the subject in its various 
divisions. A. P. S. 

Baltimore, Md., August lo, i888. 



CONTENTS. 



Wiih few variations, the subject-matter will be found arranged as indicated 
below. The number enclosed in the parentheses is that of the query com- 
mencing the special division. 

(i) What is Education ? 

Education Defined. — Noted Educators. — *' New Education." — 
Methods. — Kindergarten Instruction. — Teaching, Talk- 
ing, and Telling, ......... 7 

(29) Reading. 

Primary and Advanced. — Methods. — Questioning. — Primary 
Literature. — General Information. — News Bulletin. — 
Drills. — Elocution, . . . . . . . .8 

(76) Arithmetic. 

Teaching Number. — Mental Work. — Analysis. — Inverting the 
Divisor. — Tables of Measure and Money. — Squaring.— 
Rules. — Arithmetical Signs. — Longitude and Time. — 
Higher Mathematics. — Metric System, . . . .10 

(143) Natural History. 
Teaching it, .......... 14 

(146) Language Lessons and Grammar. 
Methods. — Diagrams. — "Verbal Purism." — Outlining. — Rou- 
tine Teaching. — Definitions. — Prosody. — Punctuation, . 14 

{187) Composition. 
Letter-writing. — Methods. — Selection of Topics, . . . * 16 

(202) Rhetoric. 
Teaching it, 16 

(204) Etymology. 
Teaching it, 17 

(207) Literature. 
Methods. — Scrap-book. — Arousing Interest. — Higher Instruc- 
tion, 17 

(220) Orthography. 
Oral. — Written. — Primary. — Methods. — Spelling-matches. — 
Definition Class. — Use of Dictionary. — Orthoepy. — Dia- 
criticals. — Drills. — Orthographic Parsing, . . . 17 

(247) Psychology. 
Its use, etc., ig 



6 Contents. 

(250) Natural Science. 
Science Teaching. — "Query Box." — Remedy for Defects in 

Teaching, ......... 19 

(256) Physiology. 
Methods. — School Hygiene. — As a Moral Factor. — Preserva- 
tion of Health. — Calisthenics. — Ventilation. — Lessons in 
Plants. — Plea for the Sciences, . . . . .19 

(280) Geography. 
Methods. — Use of the Globe. — "Moulding." — Descriptive 
Geography. — Map-drawing. — Writing Pad. — " New 
Method." — Games. — Variation. — Note-book. — Astron- 
omy. — Place-names. — Standard Tjme, . . . .21 

(320) History. 
Methods. — Primary Teaching. — Ethics of History. — Discard- 
ing the Text-book. — Mnemonics. — Exciting Interest. — 
Collateral Reading. — Current History. — Civil Govern- 
ment. — Its Importance. — Patriotism, . . . .23 

(352) Penmanship. 
Methods. — Mechanical Systems. — Primary Instruction. — 

Letter-writing, ......... 24 

(364) Drawing. 

Observation Culture. — Industrial, 25 

(374) Discipline. 
Government. — Why Kindness Fails. — Motives. — External 
Conditions. — Aids to Discipline. — Human Nature. — 
Chronic Diseases. — The Remedy. — Punishment. — Moral 
Training, 25 

(432) Attention. 

Means of Securing. — How to Fail. — The Highest Art, . . 28 
(444) Miscellaneous. 

Opening School. — Programme. — Recitations. — Whispering. 
— No Recess. — "Seven Laws of Teaching." — Friday 
Afternoons. — Music. — Dismissal. — Habits of the Teach- 
er. — Bookkeeping. — Exhibitions. — Expositions. — Giving 
Assistance. — Making Presents. — Industrial Training. — 
Examinations. — Schools and Teachers. — Giving Prizes. — 
Director and Teacher, 29 

(501) Addenda. 
Manual Training, ......... 32 



QUESTIONS, 



EDUCATION AND TEACHING. 

1. What is the great problem in education ? 

2. What is education ? 

3. Name some noted educators. 

4. What are the " Nine Laws *' of Pestalozzi ? 

5. What educational principles have always been 
asserted ? 

6. What is meant by the ^^ New Education "? 

7. What change is indicated ? 

8. What is meant by the History of Education? 

9. What is the object of education? 

10. What may be said of the educator? 

11. Can " anybody " teach school? 

12. Of what does the " Art of Teaching" consist? 

13. What does the Theory and Practice of Teach- 
ing embrace ? 

14. What is a method of instruction ? 

15. How many methods are there in use? 

16. What is the Socratic method ? 

17. Is a knowledge of mental philosophy of any 
benefit? 

18. What, then, is one element of successful teach- 
ing? 



8 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

19. What is meant by mental faculties? 

20. What are aids in cultivating memory? 

21. What class of teachers do our primary schools 
require ? 

22. What salaries should be paid primary teachers ? 

23. What is Kindergarten instruction? 

24. How may ^* nature lessons " be taught? 

25. What is the difference between the work of the 
teacher and that of the pupil ? 

26. What is the difference between teaching and 
talking? 

27. What is the difference between telling and 
teaching? 

28. What faculty is predominant in teaching? 

READING. 

29. What is reading? 

30. How can we teach children to talk ? 

31. What are the characteristics of a good reader ? 

32. What are the ends to be attained in teaching 
reading? 

33. vShould we ** mind the pauses '*? 

34. How many methods are used in teaching chil- 
dren to read ? 

35. What may be said of these methods? 

36. How is the ** object method " used ? 

37. For what is the *Mook-and-say " method 
claimed to be advantageous? 

38. What is the application of the *^ word-building ** 
method? 

39. Should the spelling of words in the reading 
lesson be allowed ? 



Readim, 



^>' 



40. Should* we follow the rules given for inflection '^ 

41. What are the results of " Mental Picturing"? 

42. What illustration can be given of this? 

43. What distinction can be made between '' good 
reading " and elocution ? 

44. Why should primary instruction be more 
largely oral than higher instruction ? 

45. What is the " Golden Rule " relative to talking 
in the school-room ? 

46. What may be said of questioning? 

47. What are its various classes ? 

48. Describe Socratic questioning. 

49. When is Examination questioning used ? 

50. Why are " leading questions," or questions that 
can be answered by '' Yes " or " No," objectionable ? 

51. What is meant by the term Exposition? 

52. State your opinion of what a child of average 
ability should accomplish in the first year at school. 

53. What do you understand by unconscious tui- 
tion ? 

54. What is the best evidence of thorough instruc- 
tion on the part of the teacher? 

55. Should the teacher make special preparation 
for the reading class? 

56. How may the teacher succeed in giving in- 
struction in reading? 

57. What is the most common error among read- 
ers ? 

58. Should pupils be required to commit to mem- 
ory the definitions in the readers ? 

59. How would you instruct a class using the sec- 
ond reader? 



lo Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

60. What variations may be used in the reading 
lessons ? 

61. What is the first step toward the introduction 
of the pupil to the study of literature ? 

62. How should instruction be given in the third 
reader? 

63. How is the dictionary to be used ? 

64. When is such a drill to be given ? 

65. What illustration can be given of these errors ? 

66. How is this fault to be corrected ? 

67. What are the advantages of this plan ? 

68. Should newspapers be used in the school ? 

69. How can this theory be applied in the district 
school ? 

^0. To what will this lead ? 

71. Has instruction in '' phonics " proved beneficial 
in connection with the reading lessons? 

72. What are the three forms of reading? 

73. Is this ordinarily taught in schools? 

74. What are " reading drills " ? 

75. What is one express fault in the pupil's read- 
ing? 

ARITHMETIC. 

76. What is the object of a recitation in Arith- 
metic ? 

77. Explain the Grube method. 

78. W?iat should be taught the second year? 

79. Describe the plan of procedure after this. 

80. Which operations in arithmetic are essential ? 

81. How do you conduct a recitation in arith- 
metic ? 



Arithmetic. 1 1 

82. How should ** catch-questions " be treated. 

83. What must be remembered in teaching ^' num- 
ber " ? 

84. Is primary teaching of the utmost importance ? 

85. What should be taught a child at first ; the 
process of writing numbers, or the rule of notation ? 

86. What are the results to be obtained by the 
study of Mental Arithmetic ? 

87. Mention some of the " common artifices " that 
may be used. 

88. What is the value of mental analysis in teach- 
ing arithmetic ? 

89. Of what practical benefit, if any, are the G. C. 
D. and L. C. M. ? 

90. What is the simplest method of finding the 
greatest common divisor ? 

91. In division by fractions, how do you explain 
the inversion of the divisor ? 

92. Which should be taught first, long or short 
division, and why ? 

93. Should instruction in common or decimal frac- 
tions have precedence, and why ? 

94. What are the '' new methods " in arithmetic ? 

95. How are the tables of weights and measures 
taught ? 

96. How can all arithmetical problems be taught? 

97. What are the results of these " new methods " ? 

98. Give an illustration of primary teaching in 
arithmetic. 

99. What method has been used in teaching Feder- 
al money ? 

100. What should be impressed upon the pupils ? 

101. Give an illustration by means of a problem. 



1 2 Qiiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

102. How may this subject be extended ? 

103. How should problems be *^ worked " by the 
class ? 

104. What is the new method of squaring num- 
bers ? 

105. What is the real arithmetic? 

106. How is arithmetic generally taught? 

107. Should problems be solved by rule ? 

108. What is displayed by analysis ? 

109. What language should be used ? 

110. Of what does the solution of a problem con- 
sist ? 

111. Why are language and arithmetic the two 
most important subjects taught in the school ? 

112. What has been taught for arithmetic ? 

113. What is the correct use of mental arithmetic ? 

114. Why has mental arithmetic fallen into dis- 
favor ? 

115. Are errors taught in arithmetic? 

116. Should arithmetical *^ curiosities " be used in 
the school-room ? 

117. What is the origin of the arithmetical signs? 

118. What is the source of the division sign ? 

119. Of what does the child's real knowledge of 
number consist ? 

120. How is a knowledge of things and their names 
together to be learned ? 

121. What instruction follows this ? 

122. What is one cause of the confused knowledge 
of arithmetic found in older pupils ? 

123. When should the use of objects be discon- 
tinued in teaching arithmetic? 



Arithmetic. 13 

124. How should higher or written arithmetic be 
taught ? 

125. What is the most difficult division of arith- 
metic to teach ? 

126. What may be said regarding the teaching of 
problems of longitude and time ? 

127. How is this to be remedied ? 

128. How may this principle be further instilled 
into the minds of the pupils ? 

129. With what class of problems in longitude and 
time is the greatest difficulty experienced ? 

130. State the difference between teaching a rule 
inductively and deductively. 

131. How much assistance should be given to the 
pupil in the arithmetic class ? 

132. How should mensuration be taught ? 

133. How shall the New Education be accepted ? 

134. What should be one characteristic of a recita- 
tion in arithmetic ? 

135. What should be prominent in the instruction 
in arithmetic ? 

136. State the difference between the objective 
and subjective course in arithmetic. 

I37« What are the principles of instruction in 
Algebra ? 

138. Of what value is Geometry as a study ? 

139. State briefly the importance of a course in the 
elements of geometry. 

140. What may be said of methods in the Higher 
Mathematics ? ^ 

141. When should Algebra be studied ? 

142. Should the Metric System be prominently 
taught ? 



14 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 

143. How are the Natural History sciences taught ? 

144. How are Philosophy and Chemistry to be 
taught ? 

145. What may be said of ^udies outside the text- 
book ? 



LANGUAGE LESSONS AND GRAMMAR. 

146. What is meant by Language Lessons ? 

147. What fact follows from this principle ? 

148. Why should pupils be required to recite in 
good language ? 

149. How does the pupil acquire the use of good 
English ? 

150. Why should we study grammar? 

151. How should children be taught English Gram- 
mar ? When ? 

152. Of what benefit are diagrams ? 

153. When does their use become injurious ? 

154. The formation of correct habits of speech de- 
mands what ? 

155. What are cognates of this study? 

156. What is the principal subject of school in- 
struction ? 

157. Of what must the young teacher be careful ? 

158. What may be said of "verbal purism "? 

159. How is this exhibited at Institutes? 

160. What are really the ** two troublesome words " 
to the teacher ? 

161. What are the "common errors of speech" 
among pupils ? 



Language Lessons and Grammar. 15 

162. How are these errors to be corrected ? 
. 163. How may this subject be further illustrated ? 

164. What is the principal fault in grammar in- 
struction ? 

165. By what result is it followed ? 

166. What may be said of the conclusion that 
grammar should never be studied ? 

167. State your method of teaching grammar. 

168. What, then, should the teacher do ? 

169. What is the relation of habit to grammar in- 
struction ? 

170. How can correct language only be attained ? 

171. What will be the result of this unconscious 
tuition ? 

172. What should be shunned by the teacher? 

173. What may be said of all methods of teaching 
grammar ? 

174. State one of these '^ original " methods. 

175. What does this method insure ? 

176. What are the advantages of written parsing ? 
177* What kind of oral parsing may be used ? 

178. What are the especial benefits of this method ? 

179. How may " routine teaching" in grammar be 
avoided ? 

180. How should the verb be introduced to the 
notice of the class ? 

181. What definitions should be given in grammar ? 

182. In view of this, what should characterize the 
teaching of definitions ? 

183. Should prosody be taught in the common 
schools ? 

184. How much punctuation may be taught by the 
district teacher ? 



1 6 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

185. Illustrate a Lesson in Grammar. 

186. What questions may then be asked ? 

COMPOSITION. 

187. What may be said of the Composition prob- 
lem ? 

188. What are the '' helps " to the teacher in this 
exercise ? 

189. What is one ^^ practical form " of composition ? 

190. What should be the first form of a composi- 
tion ? 

191. What subjects should be given for composi- 
tion ? 

192. Should the teacher select the topics ? 

193. How often should the composition exercise be 
given ? 

194. What success have you had in teaching com- 
position ? 

195. How is a class to be instructed in original 
production ? 

196. Of what length should the composition be ? 

197. What form of composition can be taught? 

198. Name one of the most valuable exercises in 
grammar. 

199. What are unnoticed ellipses ? 

200. What forms of grammatical structure should 
the teacher give ? 

201. When should advanced grammar be taught ? 

RHETORIC. 

202. How is rhetoric taught ? 

203. By what is this followed.? 



Etymology — Literature — Orthography. 1 7 

ETYMOLOGY. 

204. Is etymology an advanced study? 

205. Of what benefit is etymology to the reader ? 

206. How should it be taught ? 

LITERATURE. 

207. What is the highest form of word memorizing? 

208. Can literature be taught in the common 
schools ? 

209. How should it be taught ? 

210. Under what form may this topical outline be 
arranged ? 

211. How can pupils gain a knowledge of the 
author's life and writings ? 

212. What special effort should the teacher make 
in teaching literature ? 

213. How is the literary scrap-book to be used ? 

214. What is one form of arousing interest in the 
study ? 

215. How is the study of literature abused ? 

216. How should literature be taught in advanced 
classes ? 

217. What methods are used in the higher grades 
of schools ? 

218. How should the selections be treated ? 

219. What is meant by the History of Literature ? 

ORTHOGRAPHY. 

220. What is the purpose of spelling ? 

221. What are the methods of teaching spelling? 

222. What are the advantages of the pronunciation 
of the syllables in oral spelling ? 



1 8 Questions in the Art of Teaching, 

223. To what should the child be led in writing 
words ? 

224. How is correct spelling to be attained ? 

225. What are the benefits of practice in spelling 
by sound ? 

226. What may be said of the relative merits and 
demerits of oral and written spelling ? 

227. What conditions are attached to oral spelling ? 

228. By what means should spelling be taught ? 

229. Should the spelling book be abolished from 
the school-room ? 

230. Should the spelling lessons be kept ? 

231. What directions may be given to pupils for 
studying their spelling lessons ? 

232. Do you have spelling matches or ''bees" in 
your school ? If so, why ? 

233. Does constant spelling necessarily make a 
speller? 

234. To what does this lead ? 

235. How is the definition class to be taught? 

236. Name some of the valuable uses of the dic- 
tionary. 

237. What else may be learned from the dictionary ? 

238. What is t?ie connection of the teacher with 
this study ? 

239. What is the best method of using the dic- 
tionary in our common schools ? 

240. What is connected with this ? 

241. In what respect are teachers deficient ? 

242. Name one especial disadvantage of written 
spelling. 

243. What are the '' steps " given in teaching writ- 
ten spelling ? 



Psychology — Natural Science — Physiology. 19 

244. Should primary pupils be taught the sounds 
of letters ? 

245. Give some of the rules for the new spellings. 

246. How is orthographic parsing to be taught ? 

PSYCHOLOGY. 

247. Should the teacher possess a knowledge of 
Psychology ? 

248. What connection has Mental Philosophy with 
the teacher's work ? 

249. What may the teacher especially learn ? 

NATURAL SCIENCE. 

250. How should Natural Science be taught ? 

251. Of what practical benefit is a knowledge of 
natural science ? 

252. What effect has science teaching upon the 
pupil ? 

253. What defect in teaching do scientific studies 
remedy ? 

254. What can be taught in connection with Nat- 
ural Philosophy ? 

255. What practical chemistry can be taught? 

PHYSIOLOGY. 

256. Has not Physiology been much neglected in 
our common schools ? 

257. What are the important results of this study? 

258. What primary instruction may be given ? 

259. Of what value is a knowledge of physiology 
to the teacher ? 



20 Qiiestions in the Art of Teaching, 

260. What may be said of School Hygiene ? 

261. How has the subject been taught ? 

262. What moral lessons are to be instilled ? 

263. What other division of the subject can be 
taught? 

264. "What is the teacher's duty ? 

265. How should the teacher exercise care of pupils? 

266. What should be the teacher's first care ? 

267. What relation does this subject bear to the 
teacher as an individual ? 

268. What are the benefits of calisthenic exercise ? 

269. How is the school-ioom to be ventilated? 

270. Have new methods of ventilation come into 
use ? 

271. Give a method for ventilating the school- 
room. 

272. How may this method be improved ? 

273. What may be said of physical training in the 
school-room ? 

274. What may be taught in connection with this 
subject ? 

275. Where can this be taught most successfully ? 

276. How is the teacher to make proper prepara- 
tions for this instruction ? 

277. How is the perfection of ventilation to be 
reached ? 

278. What is of the utmost importance to the 
teacher ? 

279. What is a practical illustration of the uses of 
hygiene ? 



Geography. 21 



GEOGRAPHY. 

280. Why shoulci a pupil be taught the geography 
of his home before he is taught that of the earth ? 

281. How would you show a child that the appear- 
ance of a ship at sea is a proof of the earth's rotun- 
dity ? 

282. How should the globe be used ? 

283. What should be the method of teaching geog- 
raphy ? 

284. What are the conditions of primary geography 
teaching ? 

285. What is the origin of this fault? 

286. How is the study of geography to be intro- 
duced to the pupil ? 

287. Describe a ** recitation " at the moulding- 
board table. 

288. When should map-drawing be commenced? 

289. Should maps be used in giving primary in- 
struction ? 

290. How can the ^* cardinal points " be practically 
taught ? 

291. How should map-drawing be taught to small 
children ? 

292. What should be the first instruction in map- 
drawing? 

293. What has been given as an elementary ex- 
ercise ? ^ 

294. By what may this be followed ? 

295. How much time should be devoted to the ex- 
ercise? 

296. What is the " new method " of studying geog- 
raphy ? 



22 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

297. What are the succeeding *^ steps " ? 

298. How are errors made by the pupil to be cor- 
rected ? 

299. In what are teachers lamentably deficient ? 

300. Should memorizing of the text be allowed ? 

301. What forms the basis for all accurate geo- 
graphical study ? 

302. How can the monotony of a geography recita- 
tion be relieved ? 

303. What other ^* diversions " can be used ? 

304. Give a common method of teaching geog- 
raphy. 

305. How does the teacher conduct the recitation ? 

306. Does this method give a good result ? 

307. What other method has been used ? 

308. What is your method of teaching geography? 

309. How may this method be improved ? 

310. What is the length of the lesson assigned ? 

311. When should reviews be given ? 

312. What may be used in connection with the ad- 
vanced class ? 

313. How can geological changes be shown ? 

314. What further representations can be made ? 

315. What study is useful in connection with geog- 
raphy ? 

316. How is a topical recitation given ? 

317. To what may the attention of pupils be called ? 

318. What do you know of the *^ new standard of 
time"? 

319. What study is the natural ally of geography ? 



History, 23 

HISTORY. 

320. How should history be taught ? 

321. How would you teach history in our common 
schools ? 

322. How is an interest to be awakened in the 
study ? 

323. In what way are historical errors to be de- 
tected ? 

324. How is history to be taught in the primary 
grades ? 

325. What is meant by the ethics of history ? 

326. To what does a study of history lead ? 

327. How may the study of literature be made -to 
subserve the study of history ? 

328. Should the text-book be discarded with ad- 
vanced classes ? 

329. Should mnemonics be used in teaching his- 
tory ? 

330. What system of mnemonics do you use ? 

331. How do you assist pupils in memorizing 
dates ? 

332. Should history lessons be read ? 

333. How is the pupil's interest in the study to be 
obtained ? 

334. How is an advanced class to be taught ? 

335. What use is to be made of dates in teaching 
history ? 

336. What is the great p7^i?iciple in the teaching of 
history ? 

337. How should primary instruction be com- 
menced ? 

338. What, then, should be the grand object of the 
teacher ? 



24 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

339. What is a noted weakness in our schools ? 

340. How may this current history be taught ? 

341. What form of topical outline is to be used ? 

342. What division of this study is sadly neglected ? 

343. How should the subject be taught? 

344. What especial form i-s to be used in the rec- 
itation ? 

345. How may the interest of the pupils be in- 
creased ? 

346. How often should a recitation be held ? 

347. What are useful auxiliaries to these studies? 

348. What is it necessary that the pupil should 
know ? 

349. What is the highest form of history teaching ? 

350. How has a knowledge of prehistoric people 
been obtained ? 

351. What may be said of the importance of the 
study ? 

PENMANSHIP. 

352. What should be the pupil's position while 
writing ? 

353. When should instruction in writing be given 
to the pupil ? 

354. How may pupils be taught to practice writ- 
ing ? 

355. How is penmanship to be taught ? 

356. Should a manual be used by the teacher? 

357. How has penmanship been taught ? 

358. What drills may be given by the teacher ? 

359. By what means are primary children to be 
taught ? 



Drawing - Discipline and Moral Training, 25 

360. How can the pupils be interested in writing? 

361. What division of this subject is neglected ? 

362. What aid may be used in writing ? 

363. What may be said of movement exercises ? 



DRAWING. 

364. What are the uses of drawing ? 

365. What does industrial drawing represent ? 

366. To what will this lead ? 

367. How is drawing to be taught ? 

368. What are the benefits claimed for industrial 
drawing ? 

369. Can all pupils be taught to draw ? 

370. What should be the length of a recitation in 
drawing ? 

371. What general law governs instruction in this 
subject ? 

372. How is drawing usually taught ? 

373. Can such instruction be given in the common 
schools ? 



DISCIPLINE AND MORAL TRAINING. 

374. What is the purpose of discipline in a school ? 

375. What should be the first aim of a teacher in 
managing a school ? 

376. What is the chief object of school govern- 
ment? 

377. State the advantages and disadvantages of a 
self-supporting system in school government. 

378. State this opinion in a ^' nut shell." 



26 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

379. What is the secret of school government ? 

380. What great principle lies in securing govern- 
ment ? 

381. Should the teacher act the petty tyrant ? 

382. What principle of conduct is prominent in 
children ? 

383. What are the external conditions of good dis- 
cipline ? 

384. How is discipline secured with little children ? 

385. Should the teacher threaten in order to secure 
obedience ? 

386. Should the teacher have a set of rules ? 

387. What are the objections to the '' self-report- 
ing " system of government? 

388. What effect has ** appearance " upon securing 
discipline ? 

389. How would you act in case a boy refused to 
recite ? 

"^ 390. What other illustrations may be given ? 

391. What principle on the part of the teacher is an 
aid in securing government? 

392. How may a bad boy be controlled ? 

393. What other influence has an effect upon the 
government of the school ? 

394. What line of conduct is to be avoided by the 
teacher ? 

395. Name another valuable adjunct to discipline ? 

396. How is the discipline of a school impeded ? 

397. Vsf hsit fact should be fully impressed upon the 
teacher ? 

398. How is discipline aided by tact in '' seating " ? 

399. How may the teacher gain the assistance of 
his pupils ? 



Discipline and Moral Training. 27 

400. What should be the discipline of the arst day 
of school ? 

401. Of what 'should the teacher have a thorough 
knowledge ? 

402. What object is to be secured by discipline ? 

403. Which psychological /a<r/ is to be learned by 
the teacher? 

404. What is one reason of " poor " government in 
schools ? 

405. Should the teacher have ^^pets"? 

406. What are the '' chronic diseases " of the 
school-room ? 

407. Mention ten good rules for losing control of a 
school. 

408. What are excellent rules for spoiling pupils ? 

409. How is indolence in pupils to be cured ? 

410. What do you do to prevent tardiness ? 

411. What means are best to secure a full, prompt, 
and regular attendance? 

412. What is considered a proper punishment for 
tardiness ? 

413. How may the pupil be interested ? 

414. How are stubborn children to be treated ? 

415. What knowledge is of the most use to the 
teacher in these cases ? 

416. What is a good motto in the management of 
a school ? 

417. Who object to the discipline exercised by the 
teacher? 

418. What authority has the teacher in matters of 
organization and discipline ? 

419. What is the whole principle of school gov- 
ernment ? . 



28 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

420. What are the principal causes of disorders in 
schools ? 

421. What are the objects of school punishments? 

422. Should corporal punishment be inflicted in the 
school-room ? 

423. How should the teacher punish ? 

424. When is the teacher amenable to the law of 
the State for the punishment of a pupil ? 

425. Should children be corrected constantly ? 

426. How is the bad boy to be treated ? 

427. What are the chief means by which the neces- 
sity of punishment may be prevented in a school ? 

428. Write a short essay on school punishments, 
discussing the objects of punishment; the principles 
regulating it; proper and improper modes. 

429. What moral training should the teacher give? 

430. How is moral training frequently inter- 
rupted ? 

431. What is the great source of moral training 
in our schools ? 



ATTENTION. 

432. What is attention? What of its importance 
in education ? 

433. What are the means for securing attention ? 

434. How is attention to be retained ? 

435. What devices may be used in securing atten- 
tion ? 

436. How may the teacher gain this control ? 

437. What relation does teaching power bear to the 
subject ? 



Miscellaneous. 29 

438. How may the teacher expect to secure atten- 
tion ? 

439. How would you act to gain the attention of 
your pupils ? 

440. How can you fail in securing attention ? 

441. What is the "highest art" of the teacher? 

442. Can the attention of every pupil be gained ? 

443. What general rules may be given for the gov- 
ernment of a district school ? 



MISCELLANEOUS, 

444. How should pupils be treated at the beginning 
of their school experience ? 

445. What are the preliminaries of the first day of 
school ? 

446. What should be the teacher's line of conduct 
when a stranger to the community ? 

447. What is the teacher to especially remember ? 

448. Of what should the opening exercises consist? 

449. What are the principal features of a good 
school programme ? 

450. What are the advantages of a programme ? 

451. What is to be noted in preparing the pro- 
gramme ? 

452. Give the three principal objects of recitation. 

453. What are the essentials of a recitation ? 

454. What is the purpose of the recitation ? 
45S« What is one " crying evil " of this subject ? 

456. What expedients have been resorted to by 
teachers ? 

457. What plan should be adopted by the teacher? 



30 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

458. Are uniformly perfect recitations desirable ? 

459. Should a teacher make special preparation for 
each recitation ? 

460. Should the teacher have a "■ plan " for each 
recitation ? 

461. Should a teacher confine himself to the text- 
book during the recitation ? 

462. Should the pupils bring their text-books to 
the class ? 

463. What are faulty questions ? 

464. What kind of questions should the teacher 
use ? 

465.. What advantages are secured by the pro- 
miscuous method of calling upon pupils to recite ? 

466. Name the advantages and the disadvantages 
of concert recitations. 

467. What are the benefits of the " individual 
method '* ? 

468. What " recitation signals " may be given ? 

469. What is a remedy for whispering? 

470. Is it a benefit to have a " whisperless" school ? 

471. How can the pupil be prevented from want- 
ing to whisper? 

472. What other " means '* may be used ? 

473. What wide distinction should the teacher 
make ? 

474. What is the reason of whispering ? 

475. What effect has the teacher's method of in- 
struction upon this evil ? 

476. Is the " no recess " plan advisable ? 

477. What are the '' Seven Laws of Teaching " ? 

478. Should ** Friday afternoon " exercises be given? 

479. How may music be taught in the school ? 



Miscellaneous. 31 

480. Can music always be taught in the school ? 

481. How should music be taught ? 

482. What is your plan of dismissing school ? 

483. What are the conditions of successful teach- 
ing as regards the teacher ? 

484. What are the effects of the teacher's habits ? 

485. What moral qualities should the teacher strive 
to cultivate in his pupils ? Why ? 

486. How are these qualities to be cultivated ? 

487. Should book-keeping be taught in schools ? 

488. How can the subject be taught ? 

489. What diversions may be used in the school- 
room ? 

490. What is an exhibition ? 

491. What is a valuable substitute for it ? 

492. How far should a pupil be assisted in the prep- 
aration of his lesson ? 

493. Should the teacher accept presents ? 

494. What may be said of industrial training? 

495. What is the purpose of an examination ? 

496. What are some of the evils common to our 
country schools ? 

497. Should prizes be given in the school-room ? 

498. What are incentives to study ? 

499. What may be said of the relation of director 
and teacher? 

500. How else may this relation be regarded ? 



32 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 



MANUAL TRAINING. 

501. Define Manual Training. 

502. What are its purposes ? 

503. By what results has its adoption as a part of 
the school system been followed ? 

504. How does a manual-training school differ from 
a grammar school or a high school ? 

505. What instruction should be given ? 

506. Is such instruction growing in favor ? 



ANSWERS. 



** Education is at Home a Friend, Abroad an hitrodiiction^ in Solitude 
a Solace^ iii Society a7i Orna7nent .^"^ 

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING, 

1. " How to induce the pupil to undertake and go through with a 
course of exertion, in its result good and even agreeable, but imme- 
diately and in itself irksome." — Alexander Hamilton. 

2. " Education is the generation of Power." — Pestalozzi. 

** Education is the culture which each generation purposely gives 
to those who are to be its successors in order to gratify them for at 
least keeping up, and, if possible, for raising, the improvement 
which has been attained." — Joh7i Sttiart Mill. 

*' Education is developing in due order and proportion whatever 
is good and desirable in human nature." — Hart. 

* * Education is the harmonious and equable evolution of the human 
powers." — Prussian Idea. 

'* Education as an art consists in selecting and applying the means 
used for imparting instruction and culture. '' — Wickersha7?i. 

** Education embraces the culture, of the whole man with all his 
faculties." — Anon. 

** The end of Education is to render the individual, as much as 
possible, an instrument of happiness to himself, and, next, to other 
beings." — Jatnes Mill. 

*' How to make the most of one's self, is not this the purpose and 
problem of Education ? Education in its broadest sense means de- 
velopment. It is the evolution of every human power." — Baldwin. 

*' The object of Education is to produce a well-balanced, many- 
sidedness of interest." — A71071. 

* ' The true objective point ..in Education is the development and 
culture of the mind. " — Kellogg. 

" The aim of Education is morality." — Herbart. 

" Education as a science comprehends the laws of the physical 
and mental constitution of man, and its relations to those means by 
which he can receive instruction and culture." — Ano7t. 



34 Qiiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

* ' Education is confined to the efforts made of set purpose, to 
train men in a particular way ; the efforts of the grown-up part of 
the community to inform the intellect and mould the character of the 
young ; and more especially to the labors of professional educators 
or schoolmasters." — Chambers' Encyclopedia. 

''Moral culture is pre-eminently the aim of all Education/' 

— Fichfe, 

*' Education, in its true sense, seems to be a full, perfect disci- 
pline not only of the mental and moral powers, but of the physical 
as well." — Raab. 

' * The term Education is derived immediately from the Latin word 
' educare' (to bring up or to instruct) from the root ' educere ' (to 
lead forth, or to draw out). This literal rendering but imperfectly 
represents the meaning that now attaches to the word. It not only 
means to draw out, but it includes the appliances and agencies neces- 
sary for the development of a human being." — Johoniiot. 

* ' Education, in the most extensive sense of the word, may com- 
prehend every preparation that is made in our youth for the sequel 
of our lives." — Paley. 

'* To learn how to observe and how to distinguish things correctly 
is the greater part of Education." — Asa Gray. 

3. Pestalozzi, Froebel, Jacotot, Dr. Arnold, Frederick Barnard, 
Henry Barnard, Horace Mann, Adolph Diesterweg, Louis Agassiz, 
Herbert Spencer, Thomas H. Huxley, Joseph Payne, and many 
other noted names of our own time. 

4. I. Activity is the law of childhood. Accustom the child to do 
— educate the hand. 2. Cultivate the faculties in their natural or- 
der. First form the mind, and then furnish it. 3. Begin with the 
senses, and never tell a child what he can discover for himself. 4. 
Reduce the subject to its elements. One difficulty at a time is 
enough for a child. 5. Proceed step by step ; be thorough. 6. Let 
every lesson have a point. 7. Develop the idea, then give the term. 
8. Proceed from the known to the unknown, g. Synthesis, then 
analysis ; not the order of the subject, but the order of nature. 

5. All great educators, from Socrates and Plato to the present, 
have enunciated the following: i. The individual freedom of teacher 
and pupil. 2. The cultivation of sense-perception as the foundation 
of mental growth. 3. The study of the laws of mental growth, as 
developed in the child, the first qualification of the teacher for his 
high office. 4. The true educational spirit never asserts, but inquires. 
5. Induction precedes deduction. There must be an iii-leadhig be- 
fore there can be an out-leading or drawing-ont process. 

6. It is that which is based upon the great principle of directing 
instead of repressing the activity of childhood. The general princi- 
ples of this normal instruction have been applied in many public 



Theory and Practice of Teaching. 35 

schools for years past, but to Col. Francis W. Parker belongs the 
credit of having systematized and perfected this method. The 
primary schools of the country, in all intelligent communities, have 
been revolutionized by a process that is almost impossible to describe 
succinctly and yet briefly. Additionally, it is quite as difficult to 
predict the results that will ensue, in the course of years, from this 
"new education." The traditional order of studies— the Alphabet, 
Spelling, Reading, Writing— has been completely reversed, and the 
new order is Writing, Reading, Spelling. Instead of learning to 
read and to spell through the medium of spelling, children learn to 
read and to spell through the medium of writing. The alphabet, 
which formerly occupied the first three months of a child's school 
life, is left to take care of itself. Drawing and music, the " extras" 
of the boarding-school, institute, and seminary, are made funda- 
mental exercises in this new primary school. Composition, which 
as a study was formerly postponed to the High School course, is 
begun in the first year of school life. Spelling, which was once the 
'' grand gymnastic" of the schools for the first seven years, is now 
reduced to a subordinate position. It is regarded as sufficient for a 
child to be able to spell all the words he can use. To learn more is 
thought to be a waste of time, for the ability to spell other words is 
expected to come with the knowledge of the words themselves, and - 
the knowledge of the words will come with more extensive reading. 
Thus reading is made the means of teaching spelling, instead of 
using spelling, as formerly, as a preparation for reading. 

7. The present result seems to set in the direction of a knowledge 
of things rather than of words ; and in addition to the " three R's" * 
Avhich were once supposed to constitute the sum and substance of 
elementary knowledge, we have three other things to teach — to ob- 
serve closely, to think justly, and to express thought correctly. 

8. The narration of the success or the failure, the causes and the 
effects of the various educational systems and efforts which have 
characterized the past. 

9. To develop mind, body, and soul; to make men and women of 
the children committed to our care, to the end that they may become 
good citizens. 

10. His knowledge should be adequate to accomplish the object 
sought to be attained. His character should be such as to make him 
the example of the children committed to his care, and, additionally, 
he should be largely possessed of that very uncommon commodity, 
common sense. The teacher who does not enter the business as a 
life-work, rather than a " makeshift," is unfit for the profession. 

* Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic. 



36 Qiiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

11. No. It is popularly believed that all professions, except one, 
must be learned by study and practice in their own particular lines, 
but that teaching, the most important of all professions, does not 
require any special training. A greater mistake could not be made. 
A knowledge of geography, arithmetic, and the spelling book will 
not make a successful teacher, and the claim that any one with a 
good general education, the graduates of High Schools, Academies, 
and Colleges, are competent to'teach in the public schools, and should 
be licensed as such, is no more true of education than ci law or 
medicine. A good general education is of inestimable value as a 
foundation for any pursuit, but that it should take the place of special 
or professional training is as false in theory as it is pernicioius in 
practice. 

12. The skilful application of rules and methods, deduced from 
science and from intelligent observation and experiment. ' ' Teach- 
ing is a process controlled by pri7iciples aiming at pj'oduds. 
The Process of teaching is the training of the growing mind. The 
Product aimed at by this process is the pleasure-giving power of un- 
selfish self-improvement. The Principles controlling this process 
make it systematic." 

13. It embraces the whole science of education. It investigates 
the susceptibilities and powers of the mind, and the methods by 
which they may be trained and developed into activity, strength, and 
harmony. 

14. It is the way of performing an act. Teaching is a mental act, 
or that act which consists in presenting objects and subjects to a 
mind, so as to occasion the activity which produces knowledge and 
culture. 

15. Six. The Text-Book, Oral, Socratic, Topical, Discussion, 
and Lecture. The two general divisions are naturally the Oral and 
Written. Oral teaching calls into exercise the active powers of the 
mind, while written teaching addresses itself to the passive powers 
only. 

16. Socrates taught by questioning. His aim was to prepare the 
mind of his pupils to receive the truth, by proving to them their 
ignorance, and then creating a curiosity, a desire, a thirst for real 
knowledge. 

17. No one who has taught can be absolutely ignorant of mental 
philosophy. For though 'he 'had never studied this science from 
books, the operations of his own mind would naturally be observed 
when he came in contact with other minds. The farmer studies the 
character of the soil, the chemist carefully analyzes the ore, and the 
business man ponders over the probabilities of gain or loss; but the 



Theory and Practice of Teaching. 37 

minds of children are more deserving of study than soil, or ore, or 
trade. They generally receive less. 

18. A thorough knowledge of\hu??iait nature. This, combined 
with tact, talent, firmness, and executive ability, forms the perfect 
teacher. The characteristics of a successful school are Order, in- 
dustry, punctuality, propriety of conduct, reciprocal esteem of 
teacher, pupil, and parent, strict honesty, and the confidence it in- 
spires. Secure these, and other desirable characteristics will follow 
in harmony with them. 

19. The faculties, or powers of the mind, are divided by meta- 
physicians into three classes: The intellectual faculties, the affections, 
and the will, or, the phenomena of knowing, the phenomena of feel- 
ing, and the phenomena of willing. Those intellectual faculties 
which are first developed are first to decay; as, for instance, the 
faculty of perception, so keen in the child, so dull in the old man; 
and the reasoning faculty retained in extreme old age is far removed 
from infancy and childhood, and is developed slowly and painfully 
by average pupils in advanced grades. Between perception and 
reasoning lie memory, imagination, conception, judgment. 

20. Obtain the power of a rapid perception of your surroundings. 
The completion of a vivid perception is the beginning of memory. 
For instance, walk rapidly by a shop window and see how many 
objects you can recall, the first time, the second, the third. Dictate 
an interesting story or description and have pupils instantly write it 
out from memory, or relate it to you orally. Repeat a list of words 
that have no connection, and have them repeated in the same order. 
These two instruct the ear. Take different coins and drop them 
upon the desk, at the same time naming them. Repeat the dropping, 
and have the pupils, with their eyes shut, recall the pieces merely by 
sound. 

21. The best. Our public schools may be regarded as the index 
of our civilization, and '*as the teacher is, so is the school." The 
stream does not rise higher than the fountain. It is an old and wise 
saying of Alexander Pope that *' Education forms the common mind; 
just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." If this is true, then the 
necessity of employing in our primary schools the most skilful 
teachers, of large experience, is apparent. A good teacher is cheap 
at any price, and it is better to have no school than a poor one. 

22. It is to be hoped that the effort to abolish the distinction 
between the salaries of grammar and primary teachers now being 
made in some of our larger cities will be successful. It is the relic 
of a barbarous time; there is nothing to be said in its favor. Thanks 
to Frcebel that he taught the value of those who teach little children. 
** The post of difficulty is in the primary department." — Phelps. 
The labor of the grammar teachers is doubled for want of good 



38 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

teaching in the primary school. The primary teacher should be paid 
as much as any other teacher in the school excepting alone the prin • 
cipal. And such recognition of her worth is already granted in 
many different localities. 

23. Familiarizing children, by the aid of objects, with solids, sur- 
faces, and outlines. With the lessons on form are associated lessons 
on color, and from the object, perception, memory, comparison, and 
language are cultivated. With these, printing, writing, and drawing 
are used in exercising both hand and eye, and music and calisthenics 
to enliven the routine of instruction. 

24. They may be given to young children by allowing them to 
bring to the school-room pieces of wood and bark, and specimens of 
rocks, shells, etc., and having them tell what they know of them and 
the habits of birds and insects, supplemented by oral instruction from 
the teacher. Studies in elementary Botany — very useful in training 
the powers of observation — should be given only in the early 
autumn. 

25. The teacher's work is instruction. The pupil's work is learn- 
ing. The pupil must obey. Both teacher and pupils must do the 
best they can. The teacher must understand his own rights as well 
as those of his pupils. 

26. Teaching is communicating to another the knowledge of that 
of which he was before ignorant. It is educating. Talking is 
familiar or unrestrained conversation. Now, to communicate knowl- 
edge, or to educate, some conversation is necessary. And the con- 
versational plan of teaching is the proper one for quite young people. 
But teaching differs from talking in that the former is not unre- 
strained conversation. In teaching, conversation has a special aim, 
and that is to hold the minds of the pupils closely to the subject of 
the lesson, resolutely refusing to entertain irrelevant thoughts, or 
give expression to them. In talking, restraint is kept at the 
mi7ti??ium. One is work; the other, play. 

27. The English word teach is from an Anglo-Saxon word mean- 
ing to shozv, and both the Greek deiknumi and the Latin docere are 
from a Sanskrit root meaning to show. Etymologically, tcachijig 
without showing is impossible, but teaching is not necessarily telling. 
The educator who looks only to intellectual culture, often at the ex- 
pense of bodily and moral culture; who substitutes cramming for 
training, memorizing for thinking, is unfit for his business, and 
should be excluded from the public schools. The child or man may 
be an encyclopedia of knowledge and yet remain an infant in all the 
essentials of manhood. Mental dyspepsia is very common, and 
mental dyspeptics are found in every avenue of public and private 
affairs, 



Reading. 39 

28. The perceptive. In the primary grade, children deal only 
with facts, and facts are learned by perception. When the pupils 
have advanced in the intermediate grades to that point where they 
begin to generalize, and to study first principles, then give the mem- 
ory its proper share of work; however, in primary grade we want 
but little memorizing — the less the better. We should spend one 
golden year in teaching the children how to learn rather than in con- 
verting their memories into mental scrap-books. To develop the 
faculties of the soul, the reason, the senses, and the bodily strength, 
is the object of primary instruction. 

READING. 

29. It is obtaining thought by means of written or printed words 
arranged in a sentence or sentences. Thought may be defined as 
ideas in relation. Ideas are either sense products or derivations 
from sense products. We get thought, first, by seeing objects in 
their relations; second, by thinking of things in their relations with- 
out their presence; third, by seeing pictures or drawings of objects 
in their relations; and, fourth, by language. We get thought by 
language in two ways. First, by the spoken language, and, sec- 
ond, by the written or printed language. 

30. By giving them something to talk about, and then insist that 
they shall express their thoughts in good language. An occasional 
exercise in talking will not suffice. The teacher, every day, should 
read something of interest to the class, and then require the pupils 
to reproduce the subject-matter in their own words, or give the class 
a few minutes for silent reading, and then require them to repro- 
duce the thought of the writer in their own language, either spoken 
or written. 

31. To be able to interpret readily and e:jfpress clearly the 
thoughts and feelings of an author. 

32. The securing of proper oral expression of written language, 
and the development of the power of grasping thought. Some of 
the indispensable qualities of good reading are precision of articula- 
tion, paying proper attention to the pauses, the correct inflection, 
accent, emphasis, and the adoption, as far as possible, of the ordinary 
colloquial tone of voice. 

33. Teachers sometimes instruct pupils to stop and count " one" 
at a comma, "one, two," at a semicolon, and so on. A slight 
knowledge of punctuation suffices to show the absurdity of these 
old rules. The fact is, that in some of the most common cases in 
which a comma is necessary', a speaker would make no pause. For 
example, *' No, sir," '' Thank you, sir." This leads to a mechanical, 
unnatural style of reading. First attend to the reading of sentences, 



40 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

and lead the pupils to see how the pauses aid in understanding the 
meaning. Do not teach reading as if attention to '^pauses" were 
the chief object to be attained. Reciting definitions of pauses is 
not only useless, but it leads to a great waste of time. Teach the 
use of the pauses in the lesson, instead of the definition of them. 
A few teachers pay no attention to the explanation of the words, but 
turn their attention almost entirely to the names and the pronuncia- 
tion, important points, to be sure, but by no m.eans the life-giving 
elements of good reading. 

34. Ten. The Word Method, Object Method, Phonic Method, 
Phonotypic Method, Phonetic Method, Look-and-say Method, 
Word-Building Method, Sentence Method, Drawing Method, and 
the A B C or Alphabetic Method. 

35. Some of them are very unphilosophical, and leave no cause 
for surprise that so many children flounder at the very threshold of 
knowledge, the very place that should be most attractive. In the 
word method we begin by teaching words, leading the children to 
recognize them as wholes. This method is now used extensively; 
it was the method used by the race in developing the language. 

36. The children's attention is first directed to some object with 
which they are familiar by sight, name, and use. The teacher shows 
the object to his pupils, and the name is given by them. If they can- 
not give the name the teacher tells them. He then presents a picture 
of the object, or makes a drawing of it upon the board; then the 
name is plainly written under the drawing. The pupils are now 
taught to distinguish from one another the object, the picture of it, 
and the word representing it. 

37. First — For mastering the word by the eye. Second — For 
recognizing the word in the sign, and for acquiring practical acquaint- 
ance with the number of letters and syllables. Third — For its 
suitability to the circumstances of common schools. 

38. Its purpose is to begin with words of one letter, as A, I, O, 
and gradually form new words by prefixing or affixing single letters. 
The child is taught first to pronounce the word, then the letters that 
form it. Separate letters of the alphabet and spelling are taught by 
asking questions similar to the following: 

" What letter is placed after to form on?^' 
*' What letter after 071 to form one ?'' 
' ' What letter before one to form lone .^" 
" What letter before lone to form alone?'* 

39. No. This is in violation of the fundamental laws of teaching. 
It attempts to compel the child to do two things at the same time, 
and to do both in an unnatural manner, viz. : to learn reading and 
spelling simultaneously, and reading through spelling. Reading has 



Reading. 41 

to deal with sounds and signs of thoughts. Spelling rests on a habit 
of the age, which is best acquired by writing. In attempting to 
teach reading through spelling the effort distracts the attention from 
the thought; reading furnishes facilities for teaching spelling ; but 
spelling does not furnish a suitable means for teaching reading. If 
spelling is permitted, a love of reading is not enkindled, and good 
readers are not produced. 

40. " Let me caution you against placing dependence upon rules 
of inflection of the voice given in reading books. All that you need 
is to fully understand the thought; when you have the thought fully, 
you will know all about inflection of the voice. If a person cannot 
translate what he reads into his own language, he most assuredly 
does not understand it. If you cannot bring out in your own lan- 
guage the full meaning of the lesson, you are not the one to teach, 
and you should either adopt some other vocation, or go through a 
rigid course of reading." — E. V. De Graff. 

41. By this process we are enabled to conceive definite ideals and 
sharply defined images of the word scenes we are depicting. This 
makes our description vivid, or our narration vivacious and wide- 
awake. It moves to tears in pathos, or to laughter in comedy. It 
makes the flesh thrill in tragedy, and lack of it enables us to sit un- 
moved through the recitation of the most affecting language — that is, 
language having all the requisites for strong emotional feeling. 

42. Take the example: — 

" And the nights shall be filled with music, 

And the cares that infest the day 
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, 

And as silently steal away." — Longfellow. 

How shall the nights be filled? What is it that infests ^\\& Ad.yl 
What will the "cares" do? Who shall fold their tents? How? 
What will become of the ** cares''? How will they " steal away"? 
Who will steal away ? And thus by a series of questions graded ac- 
cording to the sense and difficulty of the work — if sufficiently ad- 
vanced, ask about the author, the name of the selection, literary 
worth, and beauty — you can interest any class and draw out the most 
artistic pictures, adding wonderfully to the vividness of their reading. 

43. None. The art of reading has been defined as that em- 
bodying every accomplishment, both of voice and action, necessary 
to appropriate expression; and elocution as an artistic copy of intel- 
ligent, significant, and expressive speech as employed in our com- 
munication with each other, either in the energized enforcement of 
deliberate argument, the sympathetic and endearing expressions of 
affectionate intercourse, the bursts of passion, or the ordinary state- 
ment of facts and circumstances which concern our business or other 
relations. 



42 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

44. The reason is plain, for very young pupils cannot investiga'^e 
books like older pupils, and the teacher must not only give more in- 
struction (information), but explain the text and contents of the books 
to the pupils. The teacher should make the pupils do the talking as 
far as possible. 

45. That the mi7iimu7n on the part of the teacher, and the 7?iaxi- 
7mim on the part of the pupil, be the rule and not the exception. 

46. Good questioning is essential. Without it the teacher does 
not know what his pupils know, what they receive or what they un- 
derstand. The eager inquiries of young children and of thoughtful 
pupils may be answered to advantage, becaus^ the very question in- 
dicates that the mind is in a receptive state, and its tentacles — meta- 
phorically speaking — are all thrust out, quivering with expectancy to 
grasp a morsel of food. It is also the duty of the teacher to excite 
the mental appetite; to display tempting viands in order to stimu- 
late the intellectual processes; to flavor the solid dishes of a dull 
lesson; and so induce his pupils to love their work. 

47. Tentative^ Catechetical Socratic, and Examination. The 
first is employed at the introduction of a topic in order to discover 
what is known. It also makes apparent to the children their needs, 
and prepares them to receive. The second has for its office the 
duty of making children understand. It is a kind of cross-question- 
ing after an exhaustive fashion, in which the teacher and pupil find 
how far a thing is not understood ; and in which the questions are so 
ordered as to place matters clearly, and get that activity of mind by 
which the subject will be thoroughly apprehended. It is the most 
effective of the teacher's gifts. 

48. Its purpose is the development of some subject in the mind of 
the pupil as the result of a series of inferences from something that 
he already knows. It starts with a question which the pupil cannot 
answer, and then leads him step by step from some known fact till 
he discovers the answer for himself. 

49. At the end of a lesson, to bring out its broad features and 
most essential parts, and to bring these together as a whole. A 
good rule in all questioning is, to vary the forms, so that the child 
may attend to the sense rather than to the words. 

50. * ' Leading questions " are useful in recitation when it is desir- 
able to have a pupil commit himself when he refuses, purposely or 
otherwise, to come to the point. But they are usually objectionable: 
First, because they provoke very little effort on the part of the pupil 
as to thought, and none at all in the expression of it. If there is no 
effort required in the recitation, no effort will be made for it. Sec- 
ond, because the teacher has to do all the reciting, and it is not his 
business to recite. 



Reading. 43 

51. It is the complement of questioning. Some things must be 
told. There are facts, which, if not known, no questioning can re- 
veal ; and there are ideas which the child might discover, but which 
would not repay the labor. Hence there will always be a demand 
for instances, explanations, descriptions, and analogies. In these 
there may be sometimes lengthened statemient, the aim being to give 
power of attention, of following what is said, and of retaining it. 
But this practice ought to be joined to that of requiring the repro- 
duction of the statement either orally or on paper. As a rule, a 
stream of talk must not be indulged. The old comparison of a 
child's mind to a narrow-necked phial should be remembered. Poured 
in drop by drop, little by little, it may be filled, when a continued 
stream would run to waste. 

52. It should be able to read easy words of two syllables at sight, 
and should be able to write plainly with slate or lead pencil. It 
should be able to count to one hundred, and know all the combina- 
tions of numbers to one hundred. It should also have a small stock 
of small accomplishments, such as telling the time, the day of the 
week, month of the year, name of county, name of township, name 
of the President, Governor of the State, grade of its school, be able 
to make *' small change," etc. 

53. Perhaps my idea of *' unconscious tuition" can best be illus- 
trated. One gloomy, rainy day, at the noon recess, one of my 
pupils, a bright, precocious child about eleven, said to me : '' Tell 
us something to play.'' I replied : ''Suppose we play school, and 
I will be your scholar." '' And when I am teacher may I do as you 
do ?" This was a poser, but I said " yes." 

So school began, after the superintendent, writing-teacher, and 
music-teacher had been selected in high glee. Soon after school 
had begun, the superintendent came in, nodded to the teacher, took a 
chair, tipped it back, crossed his legs, stroked his beard, and quietly 
observed the state of affairs, taking out a small book after a while and 
making notes with perfect solemnity. The writing- and music- 
teachers were faithfully imitated, sometimes with cruel exactness. 
But the teacher of the school was simply abominable. I could hear 
the tones of my own voice, could recognize my peculiarities and 
movement. There stood my tormentor, doing just as I did, with 
an air of defiance, unpropitious and implacable, the tones of her 
voice having a peculiarly grating quality, an edge on every remark, — 
offensive ones not being the exception ; a caustic something in every 
utterance, and an air of expecting rebellion. All this tartness and 
irritability seemed so unnecessary to an observer as to be positively 
amusing. So my pupils taught me unconsciously what I had taught 
them in a like manner — the weakness of my own character. Smce 
then, I have known myself to sit in one of the children's desks after 



44 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

school and wonder how I would like to be a child again and have a 
teacher just like myself. So far, it has never seemed an alluring 
prospect. — A genuine exa??iination paper. 

54. The mental grade of the reading class. '^Of all knowledge 
and mental training, reading is in our day the principal means, and 
reading aloud intelligently the unmistakable, if not the only, sign." 
— Richard Grant White. 

55. Yes. He should be' familiar with the pronunciation of every 
word, including its literal and received meaning. He should give 
the pupil the history of the author and some of his prominent char- 
acteristics, — this will add to the interest ; should awaken thought in 
the mind of the pupils, — this will secure interest. It matters not 
how simple the lesson may be, previous preparation is indispensable. 
Previous study will add new power and generate better methods, by 
means of which success will be insured. The teacher will become 
independent, self-reliant, and a "" law unto himself." As a requisite 
essential to success^ however^ the teacher of reading should be a good 
reader. 

56. If you have a fault, attend to it and overcome it by practice. 
Much time must be taken in correcting bad habits of reading, but 
you must take the time. And whatever you do, be sure to teach 
the pupils to do it in the right way. If the teacher wishes to suc- 
ceed, he must learn how intonation and articulation are taught. 
Before he can teach it, he must learn it, and it can only be acquired 
through study. Then, if your pupils have unnatural tones, make 
them repeat after you sentences and whole passages. This will 
insure correct pronunciation, distinctness of utterance and expression. 

57. Faulty pronunciation. More errors are made in orthoepy 
than is generally supposed. Test yourself with such words as Arab^ 
orthoepy^ vagary ^ idea, syncrasy, discipline, advetti sequent, interest- 
ing, withe, awful, preferable, Arabian, infltience (?), design, rise 
(noun), and hygiene, and then consult the dictionary to verify your 
accent and syllabication. 

58. No ; but we would insist that the pupils understand the mean- 
ing of the words used. A definition is a general truth, a deduction ; 
children should be taught primary truths, and, as their reason de- 
velops, deduce the definitions, rules, and principles. Develop cor- 
rect ideas ; then give definitions. A great many teachers have been 
amazed, shocked, and, in all probability, almost disgusted, at the 
absurd or ludicrous answers given by pupils to those required book 
definitions ; — the result of an attempt to develop logical reasoning in 
an immature mind. 

59. The true teacher will have no particular set or routine method. 
His main object should be to secure distinct articulation ; cultivate 



Reading. 45 

natural tones and delivery ; require pupils to take a proper position ; 
cultivate their powers of perception and language by questions on 
the subject-matter of the lesson ; teach use of principal punctuation 
marks ; exercise the class in spelling, pronouncing, and defining 
words of the lesson. He should occasionally give a drill in concert 
reading, the pupils reading a sentence after the teacher or some mem- 
ber of the class ; the pronunciation of difficult words, and the ex- 
planation of new points in the next lesson. 

60. The teacher may, in the course of his reading, find an art- 
icle or a story which he would like to have his pupils enjoy with 
him. This may serve two purposes. Perhaps he may have in his 
school a pupil who is addicted to some bad habit ; or a spirit of in- 
subordination or discontent or laziness may be creeping into the 
school-room ; or he may wish to inspire the pupi's with nobler as- 
pirations and to prompt better impulses. In any of these or similar 
cases, the reading of some article may produce the desired effect. 
Sometimes it may be well to have one of the pupils bring in some- 
thing he has found and let him read it to the school, and let him 
comment on it. After such an article has been read, it may be well 
to have the entire school engage in a general talk about it. Or it 
may be advisable to say nothing, leaving each one to draw from it 
what benefit he can. 

61. The memorizing of literary gems. This can be done in the 
primary department or the primary classes of any school. A knowl- 
edge of the author, his life, or his labors is of secondary considera- 
tion at first. Engravings of noted authors can be obtained for a 
trifling sum of money — cut from catalogues at no cost whatever — 
and tacked or pasted upon some convenient piece of the wall of the 
school-room. In the intermediate grades this instruction can be ad- 
vanced by the teacher placing upon the blackboard, daily for a few 
weeks, favorite extracts and familiar quotations from noted authors, 
giving the dates of their birth and death, supplemented by some 
information relative to their lives, etc. The pupil is then ready to 
commence the study in some short course of literature, there being 
some two or three excellent manuals published that are admirably 
adapted for this purpose. Larger and more exhaustive treatises fol- 
low as a matter of course. 

62. When the third reader is reached, instructions in phonics and 
diacritical marks should be given for the purpose of giving command 
of the dictionary. Require the children to face the class while read- 
ing. You cannot expect a child to read to a blank wall with any de- 
gree of animation. He should read in the spirit of '* I believe this, 
and I am going to make those fellows down there believe it." 

63. Practically, and not vaguely and theoretically. Probably no 
school exercise is more profitable, when properly conducted, than a 



4^ Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

drill in the right use of words. To know just what word to use to 
♦express the exact shade of meaning intended is no mean accomplish- 
ment ; and the person who is not reasonably familiar with words 
and their uses is very liable to make very ludicrous and embarrassing 
mistakes. 

64. It comes naturally in connection with the reading lessons. 
It is here more than anywhere else that the acquaintance of unfamil- 
iar words is made, and that occasions arise for showing the various 
shades of meaning and the peculiar uses of many words given in 
the dictionaries as synonymous terms. It is necessary, then, to 
familiarize pupils with the use of the dictionary in finding the mean- 
ing and pronunciation of words ; but these, unless supplemented by a 
careful drill from the teacher, will be found strangely misleading. 

65. Such as have actually occurred in the school-room. For in- 
stance : 

Tandem = One behind another : " The pupils sit tandem in 
school." 

A'kimbo = With a crook : ''I saw a dog with an akimbo in his 
tail." 

Athletic = Strong : * ' The vinegar was too athletic to be used.'' 
Frantic = Wild : ''I picked a bouquet of frantic flowers." 
Composure == Calmness : *' The composure of the day was re- 
markable." 

66. By giving an original illustration of this principle, rule, or 
usage. It is hardly necessary to carry out the old suggestion of 
having pupils underline, with a light pencil mark, the designated 
number of unfamiliar words and expressions in the day's reading, 
as it is a habit that detracts from neatness, but instead place upon 
the blackboard the required list. Some of the progressive readers 
of the day contain many selected sentences from the lesson, with 
the words in italics whose synonyms are required. 

67. It is an accurate test as to whether the definition found by 
the pupil is a suitable one for the place, and, if so, whether it is 
the best one for the place. It teaches the pupil, therefore, to exer- 
cise his judgment in the choice of words to express a given thought 
or shade of meaning. One pupil has found a definition which does 
not express the full force of the word, a second has found the defini- 
tion of the same word when used in an entirely different sense, 
while a third may have selected a definition which expresses the 
thought in a stronger sense than the author intended. 

68. To assist the studies of children by having them read the 
newspapers in public schools, at stated hours, and under the super- 
vision of teachers, is not a new idea. It is on trial in different parts 
of the country, and has found a warm, practical advocate in many 
superintenrlents. 



Reading. 47 

69. By having marked on the blackboard a special space headed 
"■ News Bulletin." If access is had to daily papers, the bulletin 
should indicate this. In places "far remote" where the weekly is 
the only news visitor, a summary of the week's events should be 
placed under the " Bulletin" on Monday morning, by the teacher, to 
which the pupil's attention should be called, and supplemental infor- 
mation given by the teacher. One-half of the school children in the 
United States, to-day, do not know the name of the Vice-President. 

70. To instruction in general information. A knowledge of com- 
mon statistical, geographical, and historical facts, with some of the 
more simple statements that can readily be adduced from the sciences, 
arousing the child's interest, cultivating habits of research, culminat- 
ing in accuracy of scholarship, and giving hifsi that stock of outside- 
of-the-text-book information every educated boy and girl should 
possess. In several of the States of the Mississippi Valley, this is 
done by placing weekly upon the blackboard a set of five or ten so- 
called " queer queries." 

71. In Boston, the difference between their use and disuse became 
very apparent. After they were discontinued, the universal testi- 
mony was to the effect that the standard of good reading did not 
reach its former excellence. Their use has been abused, however, 
in many schools, by incompetent instructors. 

72. Mechanical, intelligent, and intellectual reading. The latter 
is not only comprehending clearly and definitely the author's mean- 
ing, but it is also a ready recognition of the relation of that meaning, 
a prompt assimilation of it, and a subsequent growth. This is the 
kind of reading that reigns in the student's "den" and the philoso- 
pher's study. 

73. To a very small extent only, but as a quality of the highest 
standard of reading, known as elocution, it is deserving of more 
notice. The teacher may furnish an ordinary illustration by alter- 
nating in reading with them some of the common dialogues to be 
found in most readers. Elocution as a special study should be taught 
as a specialty. It is an art well worth the undivided attention of any 
teacher. There is probably no study requiring a more complicated 
mental action than reading aloud, so as to impart all the emotional 
accessories of the sense; and no other one tends more rapidly 
toward developing and refining the sensibilities. 

74. Those which exercise and tend to improve the pupil's powers 
in giving the various forms of inflection, emphasis, and pitch; drills 
in correct articulation and enunciation, as in 

'^ Amidst the mists. 
And coldest frosts," etc. 

Rapidity of tone and correctness in '^Pretty Pluma placed a pie 



48 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

upon a pile of plates. Where is the pretty pewter platter Pluma 
placed the pie upon ?" 

Closeness of tone can be developed by having the pupil repeat in 
concert and singly, some exercise similar to the following: ** Fanny 
Finch fried fourteen floundering frogs for Francis Fowler's father." 

75. The mispronunciation of compound forms, where the sound 
of the vowel is changed from that of the single or simple word, as 
illustrated in there and therefore ; ??iain and maintain ; gain and 
agai7i ; child and children ; clean and cleanliness, and in such arbi- 
trary terms as ** pretty," "bouquet," *' depot," "buoy." 

ARITHMETIC. 

76. It should be to acquire practical skill and exact thinking, and 
for this reason the pupils should be required to bring the problems 
of the lesson into the class neatly solved and arranged for inspection, 
while their knowledge of the topic under consideration should be 
thoroughly tested by judicious questioning and by the solution of 
problems not embraced in the text. 

77. It consists of training beginners from five to six years of age 
on combination of numbers, not exceeding ten, in addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication, and division. Begin with counters, such as 
small blocks of wood, shells, corn, beans, or pebbles, and use them 
for two or three months, until the pupils can make the combinations 
without the aid of objects.* 

78. Instruction should be given in decimals in connection with 
whole numbers, at least to the extent of adding and subtracting, and 
of multiplying and dividing them by whole numbers. Limit: First 
step, tenths; second, hundredths; third, thousandths. Give frequent 
drills in addition — the operation in which more mistakes are made 
than in any other. 

79. In the second and third years, common fractions may be 
taught, limited mainly to halves, thirds, fourths, etc., to twelfths. 
Illustrate simple operations in the four rules by means of apples, 
crayons, or lines upon the blackboard. Use the blackboard yourself 
for the purpose of giving explanation or models of methods. 

80. Those which all pupils should understand are the four rules — 
common and decimal fractions, the tables of weights and measures, 
and interest. The rest of the text-book may be omitted without 
much loss by all but high-school pupils. 

81. Instil into their minds, first, the important fact that accuracy 
is vastly more necessary than rapidity. One hour a day is amply 

* A valuable volume by Prof. Seeley, on the " Grube Method," is published 
by E. L. Kellogg «& Co. 



Arithmetic. 49 

sufficient for this study. More dependence should be placed upon 
slate and blackboard drill in school, than upon problems to be 
worked at home. The pupils should be drilled at the boards, a new 
subject thoroughly explained to the class, and if the class is large, 
one-half may be engaged in slate work while the remainder are at 
the blackboard. Insist upon neat work, with some such arbitrary 
division as a brace or curved line separating the work of the pupils, 
an accurate solution, and a neatly-worded correct analysis of the 
problem. 

82. Do not waste your time or that of the pupils upon them. 
They will do very well for the "puzzle department" of some 
literary medium. Additionally, it is well to remember that a con- 
siderable amount of that which passes in text-books under the name 
of arithmetic, such as circulating decimals and other mathematical 
curiosities, consists largely of school-master's exercises, of neither 
practical nor disciplinary value. 

83. That most children know very little of the subject when they 
enter school, and, consequently, the first step should be taken with 
great care. After the child has been made thoroughly at home in 
the school-room, the teacher should ascertain by careful and repeated 
tests just what it knows of numbers. This examination should be 
made under the most favorable circumstances, and extend over a 
period of not less than two weeks. 

84. Yes ; the moral is so plain there can be no disputing it. 
Since twice as many pupils attend the primary schools as go to any 
other department, and about one-half of them go nowhere else, the 
primary schools deserve and demand the largest share of attention, 
and their efficiency should be raised to the highest standard of excel- 
lence, though it should be necessary to lessen some of the expenses 
of the other and higher schools. 

85. The rule of notation, being simply the plan of procedure, will 
be taught in and through the process. Rules in arithmetic are only 
rationally taught by having the pupils solve problems under those 
rules, under the teacher's guidance, step by step. 

86. (i) Distinct mental conceptions ; (2) clear views of cause and 
effect ; (3) certainty in the course of reasoning ; (4) precision in lan- 
guage ; (5) a thorough understanding of fractions ; (6) rapidity in 
the solution of questions ; (7) artifices for abridging labor ; and (8) 
cultivation of memory. 

87. The use of aliquot parts is not sufficiently treated in most 
schools, especially as regards the decimal division of U.S. money. 
Sixty-two and a half cents equal five-eighths of a dollar. Then what 
is the cost of 168 bushels of corn at 62| cents a bushel? By rapid 
mental calculation, five-eights of 168 equals $105, the answer. Con- 



so Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

sequcntly, what does 136 pounds of butter cost at 2>l\ cents a pound? 
The product of ii^ by ii^ is easily ascertained from a knowledge 
of geometrical principles to be 132J ; that is iiXi2-t-4"i32ir. 
These artifices are of invaluable use to teacher and pupil. They 
should also have memorized the product of whole numbers of the 
same kind to 25 times 25. 

88. No words can convey a full appreciation of the importance 
of mental arithmetic. Only those who have experienced the tran- 
sition from the old methods to the new, can fully realize the supreme 
value of this study. Indeed, it is generally believed that the method 
of mental arithmetic is the greatest improvement in modern edu- 
cation ; and the world owes a debt of gratitude to Warren Colburn, 
its author, which it can never pay. 

89. The former is used in reducing fractions to their lowest 
terms, and the solution of some practical questions, as, e.g., what 
is the least number of square blocks of granite that will cover a floor 
7 ft. 8 in. by 10 ft. 4 in.? (Ans. 713.) The latter is of much use in 
changing fractions to the least common denominator, and in solving 
mechanical and astronomical questions. 

90. There are two principles commonly used in Algebra which 
may be very profitably applied to arithmetic : 

I. ^^If one of the quantities contains a factor not found in the 
other, it may be cancelled without affecting the common divisor." 

Find the G. C. D. of 48 and 60. 

48, 60—12 G. C. D. 

It is evident at a glance that 5 is a factor of 60, but not of 48. 
Dropping the factor 5 from 60, the other factor, 12, is seen to be the 
G. C. D. 

Find the G. C. D. of 70, 154, and 819. 

70, 154, 819. 

35, 77 Ans. 7 G. C. D. 

Dropping the factor 2 from 70 and 154, 7 is seen to be a factor of 
35 and 77. It is also a divisor of 819, and is the G. C. D. This 
method is simple ; it saves time, and gives the pupil a drill in rapid 
mental calculation. 

91. There are several solutions that can be given, but probably 
the following simple method can be used with good success. Taking 
any ordinary problem, as f-r-f, or I-^f , explain to the class that in- 
verting the divisor is simply a short method of reducing to a com- 
mon denominator and comparing numerators, or dividing one 
numerator by another. For example : (|-r-f. 20 = com. denom.) 
that is, if-^if = -ft ^^ ^tf* Using the same fractions, and inverting 
the divisor we obtain |X^ = \l = iiV- 

92. Lo7?^ division ; because every step of the process can be put 



Arithmetic. S i 

before the learner in figures, while short division is a contracted 
method, and leaves nearly all the work, especially the multiplication 
and subtraction, to be done mentally. 

93. Decimal fractions, so far as the system goes, because it is 
easier — being merely an extension to the right of the point of the 
notation system for whole numbers. Number classes should learn, 
however, the practical icse of a few of the simplest common frac- 
tions, as \, J, etc., before they get to any kind of fractions as usually 
given injarithmetics. 

94. Mental arithmetic, as practically illustrated, is as follows: 
The teacher recites rapidly a series of mathematical perplexities 
in this way: "I had six apples; I took one away, added five, 
divided by two, squared them, gave away five, lost one, sold two, 
bought ten and ten and five and four and three, and lost seven, 
and divided them all with Kate and Jennie and Tom and Ned. 
How many did they have, and how many were left?" There is a 
pause of about thirty seconds, and then one calls out that he has 
it, and then another and another, till they all say they have solved 
the problem. Allowing a minute to elapse, one pupil is called 
upon for the answer, and then it is put to the vote of the school 
whether or not the answer is right. 

95. There are tin and wooden measures, with a pail of water and 
a bushel of bran, ranged on the table before the class. The teacher 
holds up the smallest tin measure and asks what it is. Some say 
it is a quart, others declare it to be a pint. After some delay it is 
decided to be a gill. "Can any one spell it or write it on the 
board ?" This is done, and the next step is to experiment with 
the measure. One of the girls fills it with water and makes a 
statement about it. "I have one gill of water." Having obtained 
a unit of measure, the next is taken, and the pint is considered 
by filling it with water by means of the gill measure, and count- 
ing the number of gills required to fill it. For dry measure, 
the bran is used instead. 

96. By the blocks, the wet and dry measures, the rules and tapes, 
without once referring to a book. In point of fact, it does not 
appear advisable to use books at all, but to study numbers from 
objects, or by means of the board or stories of imaginary transac- 
tions from real life. The study of numbers is confined to the first 
four rules, simple fractions, and, perhaps, interest. This takes the 
pupil about half way through the grammar school, and it covers 
all that is required in ordinary business transactions. The tables, 
addition, multiplication, weights, etc., are in time all learned, but 
they are placed last, and not fir<^t. 

97. The pupils are probably weak on the "tables," or in the 



52 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

mere parrot-like recitation of formulas, but the}'^ display a degree 
of quickness, a readiness of memory, comprehension, and reason- 
ing, that is remarkable. With shorter questions, involving two 
sums in one rapidly spoken sentence, the answers come in a vol- 
ley from the class the instant the sentence is finished, showing 
that the mental processes have been just as rapid as the spoken 
words. Such are the '* results" in many schools. As the majority 
of children leave school when about half way through the gram- 
mar grades, the question whether this objective teaching is fitting 
the boy for his probable position in life, or whether this is the 
best "schooling" for the poor man's child, can only be answered 
by the facts of future years. 

98. The teacher writes a series of simple examples in addition 
on the board, and the whole school watch her with the keenest 
interest. Now for a grand competition in language, grammar, 
arithmetic, and imagination. As soon as the figures are set forth 
a dozen hands are *'up." ''Well, Jennie?" Jennie rises and 
says: *' I was walking in the fields, and I met two butterflies, and 
then I saw two more, and that made four butterflies." "Good." 
The answer is put under the sum, and another child is called. " I 
had seven red roses, and a man gave me three white roses, and 
then I had ten roses." By this time the school has caught the 
spirit of the game. Forty hands are up, trying in almost frantic 
eagerness for a chance to bowl over one of the sums and tell a 
story. Whispe7'ing is plenty. One by one the sums are answered 
and the quaint stories told. Then all the upper figures of the 
sums are removed, and the lesson is changed to subtraction. 
Again the stories. " I had four red apples, and I gave two away, 
and then I had two apples," etc. Nearly every one mentions the 
color of the article described. They take their subjects from out- 
of-doors, as if all their thoughts are of the woods, the fields, the 
street. The most striking feature of the lesson is the intense 
eagerness to tell something, the alertness, the free play to the 
imagination of the pupils, and the absence of formality and any- 
thing like task or recitation. It is practically an exercise in imag- 
ination, grammar, language, expression, and arithmetic. 

99. This subject logically follows Decimal Fractions, but as 
many pupils are compelled to leave school to follow business pur- 
suits before they reach the grammar grades, this important practi- 
cal " study" should be placed in the highest primary course, im- 
mediately succeeding the four fundamental rules. If pupils are 
instructed to express all amounts of United States money in dol- 
lars, cents, and mills, they will have no difficulty in writing money 
correctly. When the teacher says, ** write twenty-five cents," the 
pupil will write $.250 not 25 merely. Or, if the teacher asks for 



Arithmetic. 53 

the writing of three dollars, the pupil should write $3,000 and not 
$3. or $3.00. The main advantage, or rather absolute necessity of 
th'*s, will be appreciated when division of Federal money is 
reached^ especially the case in which money is divided by money. 

100. That the dollar mark (|) and decimal point are all-impor- 
tant; and that the work is of 710 value unless these signs are prop- 
erly placed. If all money be carried out to cents and mills, there 
will be no necessity of teaching reduction of Federal money, pro- 
vided the pupils are familiar with the table. 

101. " Add five dollars and two and one-half-cents, thirty-seven 
and one-half cents, one dollar and sixty-two and one-half cents, 
forty-four cents and three mills, and two dollars and fifty-three 
cents and two mills, and subtract one cent from the sum." Have 
the pupil proceed thus: 

$5,025 

.375 
1.625 

.443 

2.532 



10.000 
.010 



Ans. g.990 
As the class is supposed to have no knowledge of Common 
Fractions, the teacher will instruct pupils to write five mills for 
one-half cent. Teach no other fractions of a cent. 

102. Drill thoroughly in practical questions involving combina- 
tions of Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication before com- 
mencing Division. The latter may be classified under the follow- 
ing cases: Money divided by an abstract number; money divided 
by a comparatively large abstract number; money divided by 
money; and then form combinations in problems similar to this: 
Tf 240 pounds of salt cost $6, what will 25 pounds cost ? 

240)6. ooo($. 025 $.025 

480 25 

1200 125 

1200 50 

Ans. $.625 or 62^ cents = 
cost of 25 pounds. 

103, When the teacher is instructing the class, all the pupils 
may, of course, solve each question simultaneously. In testing 
the school, however, the pupils should always have different 



54 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

problems, and, when practicable, those involving different opera- 
tions. To prevent copying, let all the right-hand pupils on each 
row of desks perform on one involving division, while their com- 
panions by their side, on the left, are engaged upon one involving 
multiplication; or have the former at work upon one division and 
one multiplication, while the latter use two divisions. 

104. It is as follows: Beginning at the left, multiply the double 
of each digit of the given number by the number represented by 
the preceding digits, and write each product under those already 
obtained in such a way that its right-hand figure shall be two 
places to the right of the right-hand figure of the preceding prod- 
uct. Then square each digit successively, beginning at the right, 
and place the right-hand figure of the first result, one place to the 
right of the right-hand figure of the last product before obtained, 
and the right-hand figure of each succeeding square two places to 
the left of the right-hand figure of the preceding square. Add 
the columns, and the result will be the required square. 

105. Mental arithmetic. Written arithmetic is the bringing in 
of slate and pencil, pen and pencil and paper, chalk and black- 
board, to aid the memory when the numbers become too large and 
too complicated to be carried in the mind. School work should 
aim to accomplish tw^o things: to develop thought and to teach ex- 
pression. Hence the language used in solving problems and in 
''working examples" should be correct. The expression of an 
idea is of no less importance than the idea itself. For, it is from 
the expression of the idea by another that we get an understand- 
ing of the character and quality of the idea, as it exists in the 
mind. Such expressions as "1 multiplied by so-and-so, and it 
gave me," and so on, are incorrect in many, many ways. 

106. Written — slate-and-pencil arithmetic — is made the arith- 
metic of the school-room in the town and city. In the district 
schools the blackboard takes the place of the slate, and this is pref- 
erable with the higher grades. In both, mental arithmetic is being 
set aside, looked upon as an incumbrance, the natural sequence of 
the subject being made a ** hobby" by many teachers and then 
ridden to death. This is wrong. It is true that mental and 
written arithmetic should not be looked upon as two separate 
studies, and treated as two subjects completely isolated from 
each other. This is wrong on the other extreme. 

107. The old idea of ''working arithmetic by rule" has ex- 
ploded. For instance: From the analysis of a question we obtain 
a formula; from the formula we deduce a rule. Now, if we can 
/analyze, what use is there of a rule? We do this by.analysis* 
The result is the principle made into an instrument with which to 



Arithmetic. 55 

work out results. Instead of machines, we should aim to make 
our pupils machinists. 

108. The test, efficiency and thoroughness of the comprehension. 
If the lesson includes a half-dozen problems, require each mem- 
ber of the class to prepare this lesson, writing out in full — or as 
fully as necessary — on slate or paper, the analysis of each, and 
let this work be brought to the recitation by the class, and while a 
question is being placed on the blackboard, the class may recite 
from their slates or papers. 

109. It is just as necessary that the language used in an arith- 
metical recitation be elegant and accurate as that it be elegant and 
accurate in a recitation in Grammar, for expression is not only a 
test, but also a help to correct thinking. 

1 10. I. The statement and question; 2. The analysis; 3. The 
conclusion — or, really, the answer to the question asked in con- 
nection with the statement. This analysis may be, and should be, 
shortened and condensed just as soon as the pupil is able to do it, 
and do it intelligently and correctly. 

111. Language is important, because any amount of learning is 
of little use if it cannot be expressed. Arithmetic, because it is 
necessary in the transaction of such business as must be done by 
every one, no matter what his calling may be. 

112. Figures, instead of the science of numbers. Go into any 
average school, and ask to be shown a number, and the child will 
go to the board and write a figure; ask for a fraction and he will 
write *'^" — which is no more a fraction than the word '* cat" is a 
cat. We teach figures, and the bright children apply them to 
numbers. Give to the ordinary pupil this question: 

I have a cord of wood, sticks four feet long, to be cut into three 
lengths for a stove, for which I pay $2; if I want another cord cut 
into four lengths, how much proportionately should I pay? And 
he will answer with edifying assurance, |2.66f — which is wrong, 
of course. If I pay two dollars for two cuts, three cuts are worth 
three dollars; but the child didn't think; he used figures. — Col, 
Parker. 

113. To develop the faculty of ready and sharp logic that is 
required in the applications of arithmetical process to the business 
of common life. A mental habit of readiness and accuracy in the 
processes of exact reasoning is of the highest value. We need 
this kind of mental drill, and greatly lament its 'general d.h's^nz^ in 
the daily work of the common schools of to-day. 

114. Through an improper use of Warren Colburn's admirable 
book. Teachers came to require of their pupils mere routine work 
and formulated processes of analysis in recitation — absolutely 



56 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

foreign to the author's design. In many instances children were 
assigned daily lessons from this book and required to commit 
not only the examples, but the formula of explanation, to memory. 
Any single deviation from a prescribed form was treated as a fail- 
ure on the part of the pupil. Such absurd and unphilosophical 
teaching of mental arithmetic serve- to secure its general abolition. 
The foolish abuse of the principle of analytic induction caused 
its abandonment, and the substitution of books and methods of 
a diluted and undisciplinary character. 

115. Yes; and perhaps necessarily from "the eternal fitness of 
things." The primary pupil is instructed that 4-I-6X2 — 7-)- 
9-1-3 = 7 J, but the correct answer to this combination is (4-|-[6X2] 
— 7-|-[9-^3] ) = 12; from the principle derived from the application 
of higher mathematics, that precedence is first given to the quanti- 
ties connected by the sign of division, then those united by the 
multiplication sign, and finally the disposition of those governed 
by the plus and minus sign, no priority of use in the two latter 
changing the final result. 

116. The wise teacher will avoid everything having the appear- 
ance of educational jugglery; but frequently in the communica- 
tion of general information, in the five or ten-minute "talks" that 
many of the best and leading teachers in the country are in the 
habit of giving to their pupils, reference may be made to "light- 
ning addition," obtaining a repetition of figures by the multiplica- 
tion of the nine digits, circulating decimals, casting out the gs 
and the 7s, and an explanation of the origin of the signs. 

117. The sign of addition, called " plus," is derived from the 
initial letter of the v^ord plus, thus, P P P /> +, each time written 
more carelessly. The sign of subtraction, called "minus," was 
derived from the Latin minus, which was contracted into the letters 
m n s, with a horizontal line drawn above them to denote contrac- 
tion. In the course of time the letters m n s were omitted, leaving 
the short horizontal line [— ]. The multiplication sign was ob- 
tained by changing the sign of addition into the oblique cross X, 
and this change was made for the reason that multiplication is the 
short way of performing many additions. 

118. Its origin is a little obscure, but it is said to have been 
employed to save room on the printed page, and preserve its regu- 
larity. The dividend was written at the left of the sign, and the 
divisor at the right, and a dot was written in the places of the 
dividend and divisor. Thus 12-7-3. 

The radical sign was derived from the letter r, the initia- letter 
of radix. Thus V9. The sign of equality was first used by 
Robert Recorde, physician, in his Whetstone of Witte, published 
in 1557. He gives his reason in his own quaint manner, in the 



Arithmetic. 57 

following words : "And to avoid the tediouse repetition of these 
woordes, is equalle to, I will sette, as I doe often in woorkeuse, a 
paire of paralleles or Gemowe lines of one lengthe thus =, because 
noe 2 thynges can be more equalle."* 

119. In recognizing numbers of things at sight. Ability to 
count must not be confounded with the true knowledge of things. 
Counting is generally ordinal ; his four or five is apt to be nothing 
but the fourth or fifth. He may know numbers without knowing 
their names or the words that recall them. The names of num- 
bers are frequently learned very early, and many children learn to 
count as far as lOO before they know even the letters of the alpha- 
bet, and long before they are placed in school at all. 

120. Hold up three objects and say, " Bring me so many," is 
the first and easiest test. If this is successful, hold up a number 
of objects (not more than four), and say, " Bring me " (nam- 
ing the number). Third test : hold up a number of objects and 
ask, "How many?" Fourth: request the child to bring you so 
many, giving the number without showing the object. 

121. As soon as the children have a clear idea of 77tore or less, 
which is the true idea of quantity, they should be taught to make 
small calculations. They are naturally fond of such exercises and 
acquire a facility in their performance. At the outset they should 
be led to exercise their own skill in "doing examples'' adapted to 
their age and capacity. They should be required to observe and 
explain their method at arriving at results. If these methods are 
not the wisest, the teacher should act the part of a sagacious 
helper, and show his skill in imparting better ways. 

122. It results in greater part from the attempt to teach too 
much during the first year. Too many teachers argue that the 
child can not reason, and therefore he must be taught the lan- 
guage, before the things. All this unreason arises from the at- 
tempt, that tradition forces upon us, to teach far more than the 
child can learn. There is no time in the child's life when he can- 
not see, judge, generalize, and imagine, providing the work is 
adapted to his mental capacity. It is this lack of adaptation which 
leads to this erratic theory and ruinous practice. Give the child 
time to grow, and wait patiently until the germs of power burst 
out of their fruitful soil of unconsciousness. 

123. Cease using any object when it can be remembered and 
used without the presence of the object. This is a general rule, 
and applies to all object-teaching. 

124. There is absolutely nothing new to be learned in all 

* For further notice of the curiosities of mathematics, explanation of deri- 
vations, etc., see No i8, Dime Series of Question Books. 



58 Qitestions in the Art of Teaching. 

arithmetical teaching, except the processes which large numbers 
involve, such as is found in the additions, multiplications, sub- 
tractions, and divisions which can not be performed without the 
use of slate and pencil. All these processes should be discovered 
by pupils. 

125. Probably that of percentage and its various applications, 
and it \s possible that here a memorized knowledge of the rules gov- 
erning the various cases — though in direct contradiction to the 
philosophical methods of teaching arithmetic — is of more utility in 
advancing the pupil than in any other subject of the study. Con- 
tinued and persistent explanation, illustrated by the " thirty pos- 
sible problems " of percentage, will only and alone give a mastery. 

126. The average pupil experiences nearly as much difficulty 
in solving problems under this division as in the more difficult ap- 
plications of percentage. 

127. By the teacher insisting upon the memorizing of the 
simple fact that when longitude (or a difference of such) is reduced 
to time, 15 is used as a divisor ; that, conversely, in reducing a 
difference of time to degrees of longitude, 15 is used as a multi- 
plier. 

128. By having them draw a circle on the slate or blackboard 
— the latter is preferable — and then, furnished with a thorough in- 
struction in the apparent revolution of the sun around the earth, 
making so plain the cause of one hour's difference in time repre- 
senting 15 degrees of longitude that the pupil may be able to give 
this explanation in connection with his solution of the problem. 
A school globe is a very useful accessory at this time. 

129. With those especially in which the number of degrees 
(usually) is smaller than the divisor 15. This can be removed only 
by an illustration from the teacher of some three, four, or half a 
dozen cases, if necessary, of solutions of this class of problems. 
In the question : What amount of time is represented in 4 de- 
grees, 23 minutes, 17 seconds? the showing to the class that, 4 
being indivisible by the given divisor, a reduction to the next 
lower quantity or degree is essentially the first step will be found 
to aid the pupils sufficiently well, and encourage them to such de- 
velopment of their mathematical reasoning as will result in ob- 
taining the answer — a correct one, if they have been drilled in 
securing accuracy of work. 

130. By the Inductive Method, w^e solve each case by analysis, 
and derive the rules by inference or induction. By the Deductive 
Method, we first establish a few general principles, and then derive 
rules of operation from these principles. 

131. Only so much as is necessary to show him how to study, 



Arithmetic. 59 

and keep him from discouragement. Let him do the work, while 
you point out the way, and encourage his application. And, if he 
asks for light, give him only twilight. This is Nature's method of 
imparting light to the world. First, in the morning, the darkness 
is relieved by the glimmering twilight ; and by imperceptible de- 
grees it steals upon us, more and more, until we bask in the full 
blaze of noonday. The anxious pupil sees but dimly the principle 
and the fact. He longs for more light. Encourage him to strug- 
gle for it, and let it in upon him slowly, and only as he needs it. 
" Never do anything for a pupil that he can be led to do for him- 
self." 

132. The working of all problems should be accompanied by 
drawings of squares, rectangles, circles, spheres, cubes, cylinders, 
etc. It adds interest to the recitation ; ensures a more thorough 
knowledge of the subject ; develops habits of accuracy and neat- 
ness ; cultivates the hand and eye, and frequently arouses an 
honest rivalry in each member of the class to do better than his 
neighbor. 

133. The term has come to be an acknowledged name for the 
definite departure from the old process of mind cultivation, and 
has already suffered by its practical adoption in the school-room 
by unthinking, unreasoning teachers, v/ho only copy others as 
parrots learn to talk. They do not think that it is a lack of skill 
on their part that they fail, and that such failure results from not 
studying what to do and what to avoid. No one can ask or expect, 
before making a first attempt, a thoughtful, intelligent teacher, 
who has followed a certain course faithfully because it has seemed 
the best way for him, to lay it aside at an hour's notice, and work 
as conscientiously for a new, untried, though highly recommended, 
one. But let the winnowing process of careful experimental study 
be applied to them without prejudice and without haste. In this 
way only can the chaff be separated from the wheat. 

134. Neatness and carefulness in the small item of making 
exact figures, and forming beautiful combinations of numbers. 
The scrawling, irregular-shaped figures that deface the blackboards 
of very many country and town schools should give place to order 
and precision, and accurately-shaped characters. It is quite prob- 
able that nine-tenths of the mistakes and failures which occur at 
the board find their origin, either remotely or immediately, in this 
slipshod work. 

135. Practical applications ; and, in solving such problems, 
pupils should be required to understand the words in which the 
problem is expressed, to point out the relation of the thing re- 
quired to the thing given, to present a neat solution, and to explain 
their work in concise and appropriate language. 



6o Qiiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

136. The former busies itself with finding out what are the 
facts in the case, and what these facts signify. The latter employs 
itself in arranging the facts in order, and in devoting them to such 
uses as will most effectually serve humanity. 

137. First : to lead the pupil to make the transition from arith- 
metic to algebra. Second : to begin algebra with concrete prob- 
lems, and not with the abstract operations of the science. Third: 
the pupil should have a thorough drill in the practice of algebra. 

138. It ranks among the first of all studies for the discipline of 
thought power. It is the perfection of logic, and excels in train- 
ing the mind to logical habits of thought. In this respect, it is 
superior to the study of Logic itself ; for it is logic embodied in the 
science of form. While logic makes us familiar with the princi- 
ples of reasoning, Geometry trains the mind to habits of reasoning. 
No study is so well adapted to make close and accurate thinkers. 
Euclid has done more to develop the logical faculty of the world 
than any book ever written. It has been the inspiring influence 
of scientific thought for ages, and is one of the corner-stones of 
modern civilization. 

139. I. A knowledge of geometry is adapted to the young 
mind. 2. The elements of geometry should be taught for their 
practical value. 3. Instruction in the elements of geometry lies at 
the basis of drawing ; and 4, lessons in geometry will be of value 
in school discipline. 

140. The methods in Algebra, Geometry," etc., are those for 
impressing abstract and symbolical notions and principles. The 
understanding must accompany the work throughout ; the stage of 
routine manipulation, worked up to automatic dexterity, is left 
behind. To a certain extent, the mechanical processes may enter 
into Algebra ; the pupil may receive certain instructions, and, 
without'understanding the reasons, perform the simpler operations 
of adding, subtracting, multiplying, as in Arithmetic, but in the 
resolution of equations the principles must be understood. 

141. Alexander Bain states that this science is better learned 
after Geometry, inasmuch as it works in part by demonstration or 
deduction from principles, for which by far the best commence- 
ment is Geometry. It has its own specialty, which consists in 
wrapping up the problems more completely in symbols, so that the 
inferences have to depend upon the validity of the symbolic repre- 
sentations and processes. The symbolic processes should be jus- 
tified by explanations and demonstrations at the outset ; and the 
pupil should fully comprehend these. 

142. Of its utility — as it is the whole assemblage of measures 
derived from a fundamental standard, called meter — there can be 



Natural History — Language Lessons and Grammar. 6i 

no question. Originating in France, it is a mooted question whether 
it will come into general use by the people of other countries. lis 
opponents declare that it is no more necessary to adopt it than it 
would be to accept the monetary system, decimal or otherwise, of 
France, England, etc. Its adoption by the Government, and al- 
most universal use by scientists, does not necessarily make it *'a 
part of us." Certainly a knowledge of its divisions — beautifully 
uniform — can be imparted to the pupils in a short time. 

NATURAL HISTORY. 

143. These sciences are typified, and made up chiefly, by 
Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology. The methods of teaching these 
are not difficult to assign, although there are some things that 
serve to complicate them. It is understood that they repeat facts, 
notions already obtained in the general sciences, and that they are 
occupied with the arrangement, classification, and description of 
vast numbers of individual objects. Any of these sciences, and 
particularly the last two, would swamp and overwhelm the 
strongest memory, and the details would be unprofitable when 
lodged there. The teacher has to make a principle of selection 
that will guide him in making the most of a limited amount of 
time. 

144. Principally by experiment. And this principle applies 
to Zoology, which can not be learned with any degree of sufficiency 
and exactness, unless the student practises dissection. In our com- 
mon schools, topical diagrams alone supply the deficiency result- 
ing from lack of apparatus. 

145. Every school-room should contain a cabinet of the native 
woods growing in its vicinity. Our pupils are taught much con- 
cerning foreign countries, but very few can give correctly the 
names of half a dozen trees in sight of which they have lived for 
years. Boys and girls ought to know exactly the names, charac- 
teristics, uses, and value of the commonest trees and plants grow- 
ing in their neighborhood. The early winter is the best season 
for the collection of specimens, as the bark is firmly adherent, and 
the wood is free from sap. 

LANGUAGE LESSONS AND GRAMMAR. 

146. A system of language lessons conforms to Nature's method 
of teaching language. The little child, prattling in its mother's 
arms, is engaged in its first lessons in composition. The simple 
name, the quality and action word, the short sentence, all come in 
the natural growth of the power of expression. In teaching, we 
must observe Nature's method and follow her golden rules. A 



62 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

correct system of language lessons is founded upon the way in 
which a little child naturally learns oral and written language. 

147. That a knowledge of language should precede a knowledge 
of grammar. This is the historical order of development. The 
ancients knew language and could use it in literature, but they 
had very little knowledge of grammar. Homer sang in immortal 
verse, and probably could not distinguish a noun from a verb. 
The Iliad embodied the rules of grammar, without the author being 
conscious of them; the rules of grammar were derived from the 
study of the Iliad. This is also the natural order, — practice 
precedes theory, the art comes before the science, — and should be 
followed in the early lessons on language. 

148. That they may learn what is good language and form the 
habit of using it. We acquire language through imitation ; the 
pupil who has always heard good language will use good lan- 
guage; his ability to use good language does not depend upon his 
knowledge of grammar, but upon his having heard good English, 
read good English, and practised good English. No teacher can 
afford to dispense with the language exercise. 

149. Not through the study of words, but through familiarity 
of speech; and the teachers's conversation, in school and out, has 
more to do with the child's power of expression than the teaching 
of grammar. True, the latter is essential as much for its reac- 
tionary influences on the teacher, as for its effect upon the pupils, 
but it is the teacher's unguarded utterance that has most perma- 
nent influence in moulding the child in the use of language. 

150. Bain very cogently states some of the reasons why. He 
writes : A fezu perso7is, accustomed only to the best forms of the 
language, might approximate to a faultless style without grammar 
teaching; but not so the mass. By the ear alone we may be 
taught to avoid "houses is''\ but the insidious breaches of concord 
due to the distance of the subject and the verb — "the price upon 
the houses are'' — can hardly be explained without the terminology 
of grammar. ... It is an aid to readiness, ease, correctness, and 
effectiveness of composition, to be lead to examine the structure, 
arrangement, and constituents of the sentence. We may dispense 
with this training, but it will be our loss ; we shall not compass 
the arts of style so rapidly in any other way. 

151. The first aim would be to have the meaning of the words 
of any simple story or narration understood, by telling or other- 
wise. The second would be to sort out or classify all the words 
meaning persons, places, or things. Then the words used to ex- 
press doing or being. Next describing words — i, of Nouns; 2, of 
Verbs. Next connecting words simply, and then words connect- 



Language Lessons and Grammar. 6;^ 

ing and showing relation. Thus far, no grammar should be used. 
The pupil should then learn the inflections and syntax of the text- 
book. Technical grammar should not be studied too early. Cer- 
tainly not before a child is in its '* teens.*' 

152. These are figures or drawings, usually formed of lines 
oval, straight, or slightly bent (as in the brace), used to facilitate a 
demonstration of the agreement, construction, and arrangement 
of words. They are useful in picturing to the eye the several 
relations of words, phrases and clauses in the sentence. 

153. When used merely as a mechanical form without the addi- 
tional and supplementary training in outlining, verbal analysis, 
and parsing. Their constant use results in surfeiting the pupil with 
a mastery of pictured analysis and some skill in the elements of 
geometrical drawing, without teaching him the use of his mother- 
tongue. By judicious use, they will ever be a beneficial auxiliary 
in demonstrating his knowledge of proper grammatical connec- 
tion. 

154. In addition to systematic instruction, there is required: i. 
Correct speech on the part of the teacher. 2. Careful selection of 
words by the teacher. 3. Care in the choice of reading and of 
arrangement. For several years from the beginning, the course 
of language-lessons runs closely parallel with object-lessons, and 
they must be treated as mutually complementary. As the child's 
intellect expands and he becomes capable of examining objects 
minutely, his attention should be called to resemblances and 
differences, to the parts, material, qualities, and uses of the objects 
presented. Exercises of this kind, properly conducted, give a 
large number of concrete nouns and of such adjectives as are 
needed for simple descriptions of material things. 

155. Reading and spelling might be considered as coming with- 
in the scope of this subject, but the special aim here is to develop 
the power of using the language with readiness, grammatical 
propriety, elegance, and force; for one of the chief ends of educa- 
tion is universally conceded to be the cultivation of the power of 
thought, and words are its expression. 

156. Language. No intellectual necessity of man is greater 
than such a knowledge as shall unlock for him the records and 
treasures of all ages, enabling him to contribute of his own 
knowledge and thought to the profit and pleasure of mankind. 
If the teacher can realize what a blessing he is conferring upon 
humanity when he teaches language, he will not enter upon the 
grammar hour with so much reluctance. It will never be as 
satisfactory as mathematics, *' an ^xact science;" or as reading, 
which may become an imitative art; or as geography, which may 



64 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

be fervently taught; or even as spelling, that may be almost 
silently taught; but it may be so directed as an exercise as to be 
of the highest value to them. 

157. Of that captious disposition which results in magnifying 
little matters. In the teacher's daily duties and surroundings, and 
in the examinations upon minutiae to which he is constantly sub- 
jected, it is easy to discover the cause of this "disease." But it is 
none the less unfortunate. 

158. All young teachers have this incipient form of great wis- 
dom, and it seems to be as absolutely necessary to their after 
better mental condition as the measles are to a healthy develop- 
ment of childhood. It is to be noted that there are many books 
published on this subject — some apparently on reliable authority 
— that are totally unworthy of the attention of the teacher, proving 
as they do veritable pitfalls for him, while others, manufactured 
to order, are to be received, ciun grano salis. The study of philol- 
ogy is a most abstruse one, and no single writer's opinions are by 
any means infallible. It is no sign of ''smartness" to advance 
these objections culled from other sources. 

159. Sometimes, unfortunately, by a spirit of unfairness in at- 
tempting to trip the fellow teacher into some statement antagon- 
istic to the "decree" of the text book author, or by a confession 
of ignorance of the construction of a word of which the querist 
was himself, possibly half an hour previous. Precious time has 
been thus wasted, when a proper discussion of ways, means, 
methods, and the solution of the difficulties of the school-room was 
the proper work. All such jugglery should be decried by the good 
sense of the presiding officer. 

160. Like and As. " The similarity and yet difference of these 
two little words often give use to obscurity in the writings of even 
the most thoroughly educated. A sentence in a newspaper 
remonstrating against the laborers in a gas-v/orks being compelled 
to work twelve hours a day before red-hot furnaces, runs thus: 
* The directors could fill their places in three hours from the docks 
alone; but that does not give them a right to use men up like Cuban 
planters.' Of course the writer meant to say that the directors 
had no right to use up men as Cuban planters use up negroes. 
The obscurity of his expression arose from the misunderstanding 
of the distinction between like and as.'' — O71 the Use of Words. 

161. Outside of gross vulgarisms and barbarisms — common 
in many cases to both pupil and teacher — are the uses of the past 
tense of many verbs with the auxiliary verbs have, had, etc.; the 
use of the participle instead of the past tense with the first person, 



Language Lessons and Grammar. 65 

as I done ; and the euphonious error of don' t \v\X}[i the third person 
singular. 

162. Principally by having your class or classes drilled on the 
conjugation of the verbs. Assign the verb "believe'' to them 
daily for slate work, in one or more tenses, through the active and 
passive voices. Succeed this by similar drill in "fall," "see,'* 
"freeze," "eat," and many others, varied by having the class 
write on the blackboard such sentences as " I should have fell," 
" I have froze," " I haven't saw," etc., and then rewrite the sen- 
tence correctly, explaining the fault in the former sentence. 

163. By further illustration of the puzzling verbs "lie" and 
**lay," "sit" and "set," and an explanation of the auxiliaries 
shall and will ; and here where so many grammarians are sus- 
piciously silent, it is best to simpjy state that shall is used in the 
first persons, and will in the second and third, in ordinary affirma- 
tion ; or vice versa in their use, when strong determination is 
asserted. 

164. It is one that frequently does not exist owing to the 
paucity of knowledge of the subject by the teacher, or in its stead 
there is a pseudo-criticism fever permeating his instruction as to 
whether five and six are eleven or five and six is eleven; but it is 
that resulting from trying to teach too much where the instructor is 
scholarly and really well versed in the subject. 

165. The pupil can readily give a very charming analysis of 
those oft-quoted lines from Whittier's Snow Bound, and furnish on 
slate or blackboard a picturesque diagram (according to Clark or 
some one of the manifold modifications and variations of the 
Brace System) of the interesting lines selected from Goldsmith's 
The Village Schoolmaster : 

" Here, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 
The village master taught his Uttle school;*' 

and at the very moment possibly, or some minutes later, in- 
dulge in one or more of the ungrammatical expressions that result 
principally from not being drilled in such a simple matter as the 
conjugation of verbs. 

166. It is a mistake. English grammar, well studied, puts the 
student in possession of many important facts concerning the 
English language. The student thus adds to his stock of infor- 
mation. Additionally, it will give the pupil a kind of discipline 
he can not gain in any other way. Distinctions of words and 
forms, idioms and constructions, are important in themselves, 
and the nice observation of them develops a critical faculty that 
can not be obtained from mathematical or scientific studies. It 
is a study, however, for the advanced pupils. 



66 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

167. It should be so taught as to improve the pupil's use of 
language. Even if a pupil has a good command of words, forms, 
and constructions, there are still some things that he must learn 
by rule and practice. He may by imitation pronounce his plurals 
and possessives correctly, but he can not thus spell and write 
them. But in the cases of the majority there are numerous errors 
of speech that spring from association, and that'can be rooted out 
only by persistent criticism and correction. Some of these are 
errors of Etymology, and some, errors of Syntax. 

168. He should pay much attention to the practical side of the 
subject; the grammar study and the language lessons should be 
taught together. Moreover, the teacher must not be content with 
mere corrections of errors. In the discussion of false forms, four 
steps may be noted; the error, the reason w^hy it is an error, the 
correction, and the reason why the correction is made. 

169. Voting pupils do not learn half as much good English 
from their text-books as they do from their teacher, if she is 
accurate and choice in her language. A pupil may decline the 
pronoun ** I" a hundred times, and repeat the rule for the objec- 
tive case as often, and yet he will say "Olla gave the flowers 
to Mary and I " if his teacher uses such construction. On the 
contrary, if his teacher says "She gave it to Mary and me," he 
will say the same, though he never looked into a grammar. 
Con'ollary i. A child would never use bad grammar, if he had 
never heard had grainmar. Corrollaiy 2. Children in their language 
are much the same as are their models. 

170. The important thing in the guidance of children toward 
the acquirement of ease and correctness of expression, is to see 
from the earliest moment in school-life that every spoken or 
written sentence that comes under their observation be correct and 
even elegant. That this shall be done must be made the constant 
care of every teacher. The pupil watches the movements and 
imitates the words and actions to a far greater extent than the 
teacher knows. 

171. Let the teacher never speak incorrectly himself, nor per- 
mit an incorrect expression of a pupil to pass unheeded, and 
there is a probability of our seeing and hearing such forms of 
language for them as would honor even "a well of English un- 
defiled." 

172. That feeling which is common among many district school 
teachers, of constraint, awkwardness, amounting in some cases 
to almost shame, to speak grammatical English when at home, 
on the farm, or by the fireside. If you are to be exposed to ridi- 
cule for speaking correctly, even if it comes in contradiction to 



Language Lessons and Grammar. 



67 



the language of your parents, the sooner the matter is settled 
by a judicious stand, the better for the sake of all, and especially 
your own welfare. The attempt to indulge in too set forms of 
speech — One for the schoolroom and the other for the ** world" 
— can not be too much decried. 

173. As there is no royal road to learning, in general, so there 
is no one method for teaching language so pre-eminent that it 
may be regarded as the best method. It is, however, strikingly 
manifest that those teachers secure the most satisfactory results 
who work in accordance with methods of their own arranging; who 
are not mere imitators, but intelligent executors of methods which 
they have thoughtfully devised. 

174. As one of the objections made strongly against the **rote'* 
parsing (characterized by some as "senseless memorizing") of 
*' John is a noun, singular number, masculine gender," etc., and 
yet as it is absolutely necessary that a knowledge of the properties 
of the various parts of speech should be held by the pupil, there 
can be used "outlines," similar to the following, and given as 
slate-work or produced on the blackboard: 



For the Substantive, 

Species. 

Class. 

Sub-class. 

Person. 

Gender. 

Number. 

Declension. 

Case, 

Construction. 



For the Verb, 

Species. 

Class. 

Sub-class. 

Voice. 

Mode. 

Tense. 

Conjugation. 

Person. 

Number. 

Construction. 



175. Closer attention on the part of the pupils to the tech- 
nicalities of language. The work being before the eyes of all — 
blackboard outlining is preferable — a spirit of emulation is aroused 
between the members of the class, resulting in growing accuracy, 
daily. They will not withstand the criticism of their associates. 

176. First, it enables all the class to be reciting at the same 
time. Second, it impresses the relations of words by seeing them 
written. Third, it leads to an exactness of statement that the 
oral method does not always attain — even if used; and the popular 
expression of our leading teachers is against its use. 

177. That which properly may be denominated ** collateral " 
parsing; where, using the same form of outline as above given, 
after a sentence has been written on the blackboard or a line or 



68 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

two of poetry and prose recited by the teacher, the pupils "in 
turn" parse the word. 

178. Securing the attention of the class and developing the 
faculty of criticism among the pupils. Necessary corrections may 
be indicated by the up-raised hand of the pupil. 

179. By dispensing with the book, for the time being, as soon 
as a knowledge of the noun has been obtained. Select familiar 
sentences from their readers and have them simply parse, outline, 
and diagram the noun until it is well understood, and stop/z/j-/ 
before this subject even is monotonous. So complete the study 
with these variations from text-book to slate or blackboard, or 
both. 

180. By following a similar plan concerning the noun. First 
make the pupils familiar with this part of speech by numerous 
illustrations and examples. They will then be ready for the name 
verb^ and possibly for a definition. The arrangement of its 
properties and its construction naturally follows. 

181. Those of the simplest form and accurate in statement. 
Teachers have not the time nor opportunity, in the ordinary grade 
of schools, to enter into discussion with the pupils regarding text- 
book statements. To commit and " parrot off the definitions of 
others is time worse than wasted. In schools of the higher grade 
there is time to investigate, to decide, to point out errors, to carry 
a proposition to logical conclusions, and to analyze these are 
positive advantages. 

182. The teacher must be in the position to have his statements 
accepted by the pupils unquestioned. Necessarily, he should be 
correct. Do not accept the definition of a regular verb as '' one 
that adds d or ed to the present," as this would include hear, an 
irregular verb; or "a regular verb is one whose past indicative 
and perfect participles end in ed,'' as this includes the irregular 
verbs /^^and led; but simply that **a regular verb is one which 
adds ed to the present to form the past indicative and perfect 
participles." 

183. It frequently happens that a teacher, from a natural liking 
or knowledge of the subject, and sometimes simply as the result of 
an affected conceit, attempts to give some instruction in this 
division of grammar, but always with the only result of having 
called the pupil's attention to a curiosity, or of wasting a few days 
of the school's recitations. Properly, it should be left alone 
under these circumstances. 

184. Considerable. The knowledge which he may attain by a 
study of any one of the half-dozen excellent little manuals pub- 
lished on the subject, may be imparted to the pupils, additional to 



Composition. 69 

that contained in their grammar, by writing simple sentences on 
the blackboard, properly punctuated, wiih specimens of the super- 
scriptions of letters, forms of address, letter headings, etc. The 
use of quotation marks, interrogation and exclamation points, 
may be insisted upon from the start. 

185. Write on the blackboard the following : 

" The day is done, and the darkness 
Falls from the wings of night 
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 

" I see the lights of the village 

Gleam through the rain and the mist, 
And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me. 
That my soul can not resist:" — Longfellow, 

186. I. Those relative to Punctuation and Capitals, [a) Call 
the attention to the use of the comma in the series of nouns, and 
then form a rule. (6) How many commas in the whole lesson ? 
(r) Name and use of the punctuation mark after " resist." (^) Why 
is the dash used before the author's name ? (e) How many 
periods in this lesson ? How many sentences ? Why does each 
line commence with a capital letter? 

2. Regarding the Parts of Speech, {a) Write in column all the 
nouns. How many are there? {b) How many nouns are plural? 
(^) Write the verbs. How many? (<^) How many times is the 
article the used in this lesson? The article a or an? (e) How 
many prepositions in the lesson ? (/) How many times is the 
conjunction and used} (^) Name the pronouns, {/t) How many 
paragraphs? How many sentences? (i) Write from memory 
the first verse — the second, (j) Compare with original and cor- 
rect the punctuation and other errors. 

COMPOSITION. 

187. The teacher could not be confronted by any more appall- 
ing task than that of managing the compositions of a hundred or 
more boys and girls — or even the lowest allotment of twenty-five 
or thirty — who are neither innocent enough to work for praise, 
nor experienced enough to know the value of literary accomplish- 
ments. About equally convinced that compositions are of no 
value in themselves, and that if they were, he himself could never 
write anything worth reading, the average boy teaches himself to 
look upon them as an unmitigated nuisance, and upon the teacher 
who requires them as an enemy to his happiness. 

188. He should remember that as there is a traditional antipa- 
thy to the task, it is best in the first place not to insist upon their 
production loo often. During the first of the term they may for a 



70 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

short time alternate weekly with map-drawing. Later, require 
them only once in three weeks, and if a holiday occurs on Friday 
— the usual day for making the requirement — delay the exercise 
until the next week. It gives an " air of freedom" to the matter 
that is appreciated by the pupils. Again, if possible, obtain their 
consent to write one complete essay, treating a subject fully and 
prepared with especial care, giving them an extension of time for its 
composition. This is of more value in developing the ability to 
compose than a number of short ones would be. 

189. Letter writing. A matter that is sadly neglected in our 
common, graded, and even many of our high, schools. The 
teacher should place upon the blackboard a drawing of. a par- 
allelogram — the ordinary shape of the envelope — and write some 
three or four different forms of addresses. Then furnish the 
pupils with an example of proper dating, letter heading, the 
address of the letter itself, some hints relative to the ** body" 
of the epistle, showing them varying forms of closing, and request 
them to bring in the composition, with a cancelled stamp placed 
on the upper right-hand corner, with an imitation of the post- 
office stamp. 

190. Reproduction from memory. It demands a low grade of 
the inventive, originating activity of the mind. The pupil in 
trying to reproduce the idea calls into operation every faculty of 
the mind to select the words most suitable for the idea. Un- 
successful efforts to express are the best means of teaching the 
value of the words. We learn the value of words by needing 
them. Having really felt their want, when we at last get them 
they are appreciated. The constant failure to express ideas well 
is the best possible training toward ready language. 

191. Topics taken from the reading lesson may be used. An 
exellent preliminary drill is to read to the class (grammar it is 
presupposed) some short, interesting, spicy narrative, and at its 
close request them to write it on their slates for your inspec- 
tion. Taking special opportunity for this, you may correct these 
embryo theses while the pupils wait, reading aloud certain por- 
tions that indicate discrimination or good judgment, or, on the 
contrary, require som.e present criticism, grading them as you 
proceed. The name of the writer should not be mentioned, and 
this applies only to a class of twelve or fifteen members. 

192. As a general thing, yes. Don't ask young pupils to make 
their own selection. It is cruel. It is shirking a duty which is 
harder for them than for you. Don't make too much of these 
efforts. Take time for it, and real, genuine, healthy progress will 
be your sure reward, 



Composition. 71 

193. This depends greatly upon the grade of the school, its 
morale, the advancement of the pupils, and the efficiency of the in- 
struction. In the matter of grading, some district schools are 
superior to those in town, and here elementary composition writ- 
ing in connection with the grammar may be used daily ; in others 
two or three times a week ; in some once a week only. In graded 
schools it is generally a requirement made fortnightly from the 
pupils, alternating with map-drawing. In the grammar schools of 
the different cities various exercises are demanded on succeeding 
Friday afternoons, such as printing (in script, German text, etc.), 
compositions, and map-drawing, So that this study comes up but 
once a month. 

194. Very good. We once asked the pupils to open their 
geographies to the map of the British Isles, and then followed a 
supposed route from the extreme southwestern point of England, 
mentioning the larger cities, such natural curiosities as came to our 
memory, reference to the poem in Home's Douglas of *' On the 
Grampian Hills, '^ etc., an account of Balmoral Castle, the summer 
residence of the Queen, on to Duncansby Head. We then referred 
the class to the account of John O'Groat given in the Webster's 
Unabridged lying on the desk, supplemented it with some addi- 
tional information, and then announced as the topic, '' From Land^s 
End to John O'Groat's House." No copying was allowed during 
the preliminary talk, or from their text-books. Out of a class of 
thirty-five, some six or eight compositions were produced quite 
suitable for the columns of the town paper (weekly) to which they 
were referred and in which they were printed. The class con- 
sisted of boys and girls, of ordinary intellect, from twelve to fif- 
teen years of age. 

195. This is the highest, most profitable, and, if the matter is 
properly managed, really the easiest, form. It may be oral or 
written. A thousand devices will lead to it. If the Fsalm of Life 
is the reading lesson, you may request the pupils to be ready to tell 
what they would have their life to be, as their next lesson. Have 
the relation of a military funeral, a steamboat disaster, a great fire, 
a noted flood, a terrrible cyclone, the beauty and strength of the 
ocean, an account of a field of waving wheat or other grain, with a 
great selection of a variety of topics, such as meets the taste or 
circumstances of the pupils, and after the oral recitation ask for its 
** written account." 

196. It is quite difl5cult to regulate this matter. A hint pri- 
vately given to a pupil furnishes better result than any other form, 
though the general statement may be made that the teacher desires 
nothing less than three or four or six pages of note paper as of 
sufficient length. To the boy or girl who shirks and brings you 



72 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

but a page or a page and a half, carelessly written in haste and 
badly composed, some special correction should be given by forc- 
ing him or her to prepare a belter substitute. In higher schools, 
compositions are frequently presented with the sheets stitched to- 
gether and fastened with ribbons in artistic fashion, and, in some 
cases, accompanied with drawings of real excellence. There have 
been presented compositions that were exquisite in tone and al- 
most faultless in penmanship and punctuation ; and it is quite 
possible to receive some very miserable '* scrawls.' 

197. Without trenching upon the advanced subject of essay 
writing taught in high schools and required from the college stu- 
dent, in the guise of a theme, valedictory, etc., the pupil of the 
common school may he taught to write biographical sketches, com- 
mencing possibly with an autobiography, stating his name, date 
and place of birth, parents, with ages and occupation, first remem- 
brances, where educated, personal appearance, favorite occupation, 
characteristics, and plans for the future. The teacher may aid 
materially by placing upon the blackboard a skilfully arranged 
outline of this as a preliminary movement. 

198. It is the filling up of omissions or ellipses, so common in 
every language as to be an authorized fact of the language. Half 
the diflSculties of grammatical parsing grow out of these ellipses. 
"Please to give me (or, more commonly, please give me) some- 
thing to drink" is a grammatical puzzle until the full expression is 
given — **May it please you to give me something that I may 
drink." 

199. The elliptical use of nouns, as '* stone walls;" "walls 
that are made of stones." Another important contraction is the 
turning of clauses into abstract nouns — "What we see, we be- 
lieve," "seeing is believing," "sight is belief." 

200. The arrangement of words and clauses in sentences ad- 
mits of great variation, and many of the most successful teachers 
in this study insist upon a lengthened drill in the different placing 
of qualifying words, the substitution of subjects, predicates, and 
the auxiliary elements (adjective, objective, and adverbial) in 
sentences lacking such. The teacher can form to himself a 
scheme of variation, for which Grammar and his own sense will 
be the guide. 

201. When pupils have arrived at a stage of intellectual devel- 
opment to enable them to comprehend the principles of language 
as a science. This can seldom be done in the country school, but 
must be left to the instruction that can be given under the favoring 
conditions of a high graded school, or the private academies and 
seminaries. 



Rhetoric — Etymology. 73 



RHETORIC. 

202. As the subject is but a continuation of advanced grammar, 
its treatment must be similar, consisting largely of drills in the 
correction of false forms of diction, construction, and the avoid- 
ance of ambiguity of thought and expression. 

203. By an exercise in the analysis of words in which the pupil 
is made familiar with the results of modern philological research 
in regard to the formation of words and the growth of language. 
By the careful study of his own vernacular, he obtains a knowl- 
edge of the roots derived from all the languages which enter into 
the English; he gets that nice and discriminating use of words which 
is usually sought in the study of a foreign language, and he ac- 
quires the power of etymological analysis, which will be of great 
worth to him in practical life, and in the continuation of linguistic 
studies. 

ETYMOLOGY. 

204. Not necessarily. It may be introduced into classes of 
ordinary advancement in grammar, and especially with beneficial 
results where there is no probability of the pupils receiving 
higher instruction in a language course. A study of this kind, 
while it can not take the place of a thorough culture in the classic 
*' tongues," will be found an excellent preparation for such cul- 
ture, and it will prove of much greater practical value than super- 
ficial classic study. 

205. It aids in the use of words with precision and accuracy, 
when we know their history as well as their present meaning. It 
is the science of etyjiions ; that is, of true primitive forms, and 
traces words from language to language back to their origins. Un- 
fortunately this branch, which is one means of teaching a correct 
use of language, does not appear to be taught so much as it was 
twenty years ago. 

The more general teaching of Latin has crowded it out of the 
curriculum of many of our higher schools. But a large proportion 
of children do not have time for Latin, and it is proper that all who 
get beyond the bare elementary branches should be taught, at least, 
the prefixes and suffixes used in English words, and thus be intel- 
ligently fortified against such very common mistakes as the use of 
"except" for 'Vaccept." The child who clearly understands that 
accept means to take to one's self, while except means to put out^ 
will probably cease to "except" its friend's letters. 

206. Any good text-book on the subject indicates properly the 



74 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

method of instruction, which is supplying the definitions of roots, 
prefixes, and sufl5xes (affixes) in addition to the drills in original 
meaning of words, and the interchange of synonyms. The better 
grade of readers furnish this latter exercise, which, in connection 
with composition work, is of the greatest benefit. 

LITERATURE. 

207. That which leads to the study of literature as a distinct 
branch. While studying the models of English composition, the 
student should be assisted to undertake a course of reading care- 
fully planned by the teacher. Each author should be thoroughly 
studied, and his characteristics as a writer, his peculiarities, habits, 
tastes, personal appearance, etc., noticed. Following this, an ex- 
ercise may be held each week, to which all the members of the 
class are required to contribute something relative to the author. 
This can only be done, successfully, in the schools of our larger 
towns, having ready access to books of reference through the 
medium of public libraries. 

208. Yes ; and by an earnest teacher with the most gratifying 
results. A small manual* placed in the hands of the pupils as 
supplementary to the reading lessons and ultimately as a special 
study, will, in many cases, revolutionize the mental condition of a 
school, and serve as an intellectual incentive to additional interest 
in other studies. 

209. The probability is, that after the first fresh enthusiasm 
that pupils always feel, everyiuhere, in haying possession of a " new 
book," it will require some tact on the part of the teacher to prevent 
the exercise from becoming dry and insipid. A mere recital of the 
dates of birth and death of an author with the list of his works, is 
not literature, nor the study of literature. It should be remem- 
bered that the knowledge of the teacher must be sufficient to fill 
out and supplement the brief descriptions of a text-book. As soon 
as practically convenient, have the class engaged in preparing 
topical outlines of the authors, giving their birth, death, incidents 
in their career, their married life, manner and conversation, 
striking peculiarities, social standing, the financial reward of their 
labors, list of productions, some leading familiar quotation or 
"oft-repeated phrase," and their burial place. 

210. By having the pupils place upon the blackboard — the 
teacher should illustrate at first by some three or four examples — 
a brace, or any form of connecting outline, filling in similar to the 
following: 

* Short Studies i?i Literature^ Elcir^dge & Bro., Philadelphia (price, 69 
cents). 



William 
Shakespeare. 



Literature. 75 

1564 — April 23 — Birth; Stratford-upon-Avon. 
1582— Marriage to Anne Hathaway. 
1584 — Departure for London. 

1598— Acted for the last time in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, 
1611 — Returned home. 
i6i6 — Death ; on fifty-third birthday. 
List of works. 
Familiar quotations. 

Personal appearance, characteristics, married life, style of 
handwriting, etc. 

Note: — The "matter" following date of death is left unfilled, as such in- 
formation can be derived from the text-book. 

211. Naturally, no small text-book can supply else than a few 
meager facts relative to an author, and offer but a few brief se- 
lections from his works ; but not only the teacher but the pupils 
should have cultivated a disposition to search for additional in- 
formation and extracts. Hardly any community is so isolated but 
what they are favored with their weekly local paper, and hardly 
any rural publication but what will contain, frequently, just such 
details, in the way of literary gossip, clippings, stereotyped news, 
and some poetical selections. To the schools in villages and 
larger towns the "daily " and the circulating library, offer all that 
is needed. 

212. From the beginning, he should place himself within the 
reach of all means tending to a full knowledge of the subject, 
which he can do by subscribing to some two or three cheap publi- 
cations — as low as fifty cents per annum — and constantly search 
the columns for such literary gems as will be useful. A scrap-book 
containing all these cuttings will be of inestimable value to him. 
Under passably favorable conditions, he can secure the co-opera- 
tion of his more intelligent pupils, and they, too, will furnish scrap- 
books for use in the recitation. 

213. It should be remembered that all these remarks are based 
upon the supposition — and such is frequently the case — that the 
school is comparatively ignorant of the subject and that even the 
teacher may be but indifferently prepared to give instruction. In 
our larger towns and cities, where school children have access to 
the morning and evening paper, the school and public library, and 
a hundred-and-one mediums of information, a love of literature — 
the study of good books — is fostered from infancy, and the class 
accept an introduction into the use of such text-book with more 
or less delight, based naturally upon their inclinations, but it is in 
the retired village or comparatively obscure and isolated district- 
school, that the scrap-book becomes the circulating library and is 
the great incentive to the acquisition of more knowledge. The 
teacher may loan his, under certain restrictions, to the pupils, and 
those that have been '* made " by them should be at hand for ready 



76 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

use. The wise teacher will have his prepared as an introductory 
movement in which to engage the interest of the class. 

214. The recital of such anecdotes illustrating the whims, pe- 
culiarities, struggles, rewards, and habits of authors, as may come 
to the notice of the teacher — and there is an immense fund of such 
'* gossip" — by him, to the pupils, at appropriate intervals, but exer- 
cising sufficient judgment to prevent himself from degenerating 
into a mere story-teller. It is quite impossible to have children 
like literature at first from simply the innate beauty of the expres- 
sion or the sentiment conveyed. Such appreciation is a ** plant 
of slow growth," but it will come from these simple elementary 
aids to be a matter of need, producing that culture which tends to 
the harmonious development of mind and soul. 

215. By a devotion to low and sensational literary works. 
Like the growth of a poisonous fungus, the taste for this literature 
absorbs the vital forces and destroys all that is noble in life. The 
teacher should do all in his power to extirpate this evil, and make 
every effort to cultivate a taste for the works of the great masters 
of human thought. Experience shows that there is no more effec- 
tual way to prevent the mind from dwelling upon impure and 
gross subjects than by filling it completely with those of an oppo- 
site character. 

216. As a part of human history, and as a result of human 
effort, and such instruction should be introduced objectively in the 
senior grades, and receive a more thorough treatment in the aca- 
demic department under the heads of English Literature and Gen- 
eral Literature. 

217. Frequently the leading authors are arranged in an inter- 
esting chronology, and an attempt made to have this fixed in 
the memory long before the characteristics of each can be under- 
stood. Their lives also are read, as narrative interest ; including 
the mention of their works, the dates and subjects of these, with a 
few necessarily vague expressions respecting their merits. This is 
scarcely lesson work, however ; it is rather the amusement of 
growing minds. The teaching of the subject has also taken the 
form of the study of selected works from Chaucer downwards. 
High Schools and Colleges are provided with an ample series of 
such works, with every needful aid in the way of commentary or 
annotation. 

218. The later authors are to be preferred to the earlier, and 
the prose authors to the poets. The first of these two maxims 
arises from the fact that English prose style has improved and is 
improving; while the thoughts and the general interest are still 
more in favor of the moderns. The pupil, at the outset, should 



Orthography. 77 

see prose at its very best ; and should be led backwards to the 
less perfect examples. The interest of many of the older prose 
writers, although not entirely exhausted, undergoes an almost 
steady decrease with the lapse of time. 

219. Narrowed to its strict domain, it is the criticism of literary 
works in all that relates to style or composition. What makes the 
history is the regarding of our authors (English and American) 
in a connected series, each having more or less relation to the pre- 
ceding. This historical treatment of literature is itself a branch of 
the Belles Letters, being always conducted with studious regard to 
the graces of composition. 

ORTHOGRAPHY. 

220. During the first year it is entirely to prepare for compo- 
sition or " talking with the pencil." Indeed, all spelling is for the 
sake of composition, and it has no other purpose. The words first 
taught on the blackboard in reading, and the commonly used and 
constantly recurring words of the child, in short, the script vocab- 
ulary, should be the words first spelled. It should be remembered 
that those who do not learn to spell when young, seldom acquire 
the ability to do so. Consequently, make every step with the 
small child a success, otherwise you may disgust the mind with its 
failures. 

221. The Oral and the Written. The first possesses several 
advantages : It teaches pupils to pronounce words, which the 
written method does not. It also teaches the correct syllabi- 
cation of words, and it admits of several interesting methods of 
competitive recitation. Its disadvantages are, that pupils taught 
to spell orally will not usually spell correctly when they are writ- 
ing. It is frequently noticed that pupils will spell without mis- 
take, when pronounced to them, the words which they have 
misspelled in a letter or composition. Neither can each pupil 
of a class spell as many words of the lesson as by the written 
method. The advantages of the written method are, that we 
learn to spell more readily by sight than by sound ; a pupil taught 
by this method will spell correctly when he writes (which is the 
principal object to be attained in the study of orthography) ; he 
will spell all the words in the lesson ; and it gives him an oppor- 
tunity to review the misspelled words. 

222. If the syllables are pronounced, the w^ords can be more 
easily pronounced. It is a kind of analysis of the word. 

223. To copy sentences as soon as possible, and after that keep 
to sentences, for they are the written forms of thought expression, 
and the stimulus of the thought enables the child to recall the 



78 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

word-forms in writing, just as it does in reading. Do all this work 
easily and slowly, and in the doing of it let the child alone and 
don't "fuss" with him. If he makes anything wrong, rub it out 
at once; make a sort of dissolving view. Have him acquire the 
power of copying from the blackboard with pei-fect accuracy any 
sentence he can read. Never accept any careless work. Don't 
scold, but let the work vanish under the sponge with quiet celerity 
and have the child do it over. A better vocabulary can be gained 
by writing than by reading. 

224. By holding your pupils responsible for correct spelling in 
every written exercise; otherwise the habjt can not be formed. 
Make and retain lists of words misspelled. Let the practice be 
mainly on such words. Pupils learn to spell by practice, not by 
studying columns of words. Accustom them to observe carefully 
the spelling of words as they read. The teacher can stop during 
the recitation to refer to the dictionary, or from the abundance of 
his own knowledge, refer to the duplicate spelling of a word, or its 
obsolete use and modernized version, and allow them to bring in 
lists of words as test exercises. No pupil should be allowed to 
write a word from dictation unless he knows exactly how it looks 
correctly spelled. Never let him guesSy but draw a blank when he 
is in doubt. 

225. Training the organs of hearing so that children may 
readily distinguish the sounds heard in speaking; that they may 
learn to produce the sounds correctly in using language; and that 
they may acquire an articulation which shall be at once both 
accurate and tasteful. 

226. Oral spelling secures correct pronunciation, and awakens 
a keener interest in pupils; written spelling is the more practical, 
but is apt to become wearisome if carried on exclusively. In 
written spelling, we have the use of the hand as an aid to memory. 
With diacritical marks, the value of this exercise is greatly in- 
creased, and should be written in connection with written lan- 
guage lessons and drills in phonics. A judicious combination can 
be made of oral spelling with written exercises. With the writing- 
exercise, after the paper or slates are corrected, require pupils to 
rewrite their misspelled words. 

227. Words should be known by the pupil in their spoken 
form and in their use before he is required to use them. The 
pupil should spellall the words in the range of his experience, all 
he has occasion to use in his daily needs. He should read any 
new word in an original sentence before he is required to spell it. 

228. The blackboard is possibly the best. Then the slate and 
pencil, although the blank-book or sheet of writing paper is 



Orthography. 79 

preferable — writing tablets and ** scratch" books are to be pur- 
chased for the veriest trifle — and with great care a spelling-book, 
if the teacher needs it. 

229. It will be qiiite impossible to do so in the common school, 
no matter how feasible such action may be in schools of higher 
grades. The teacher is unfortunate who can see nothing in a 
book but a succession of words to be spelled, and nothing in a 
word but a string of letters whose chief use is to be shouted across 
the school-room. And it is quite possible to use a spelling-book 
so as to interest the mind. It is well to know, however, that the 
tendency to discard the use of the spelling-book, substituting 
therefore lists of words selected by the teacher, has been stopped, 
and that there is a return to the " good old way." It will not do 
to waste time over words that a child could not misspell, but 
rather, drill on words of difficult orthography. 

230. With primary pupils it is hardly neccessary, and where 
there is nothing but slate or blackboard work it is naturally quite 
impossible. With the higher classes, even in the common school, 
it is quite advisable to have the pupils use blank-books for their 
spelling lessons, and the principle should be instilled into them of 
keeping them neat and accepting them as "records" of their 
lessons and additionally, as specimens of their penmanship, exhib- 
iting, it is to be hoped, a noteworthy progress in both studies. 
Under certain conditions in the ''district," the teacher will not 
have the power to insist upon an exclusive use of paper, though 
the exercise of tact on his part will help to determine the matter. 
Naturally, he will follow the expressed wishes of his patrons. 

231. Tell them (i) To look at a word long enough to see it 
perfectly. (2) Shut the book; think how the word looks, then 
write it upon the slate. (3) Compare the words as written with 
the printed page, and make a check against the errors. (4) Repeat 
the process where mistakes have been made, looking more care- 
fully still at the words spelled wrong, until a correct image is 
made in the mind. It may be remarked here, that there is un- 
doubtedly a "vain repetition" in spelling or giving to pupils 
almost constantly the words which they do not misspell. 

232. It is quite probable that many a teacher devotes too much 
time to this pleasantry; that it has its merits there can be no 
doubt, and it is a fact of self-experience that district schools have 
frequently been taught but little else. The Memorus Wordwell 
of the community was the leading citizen in an educational and 
always in a popular sense, but it is our duty to supplant the 
constant use of this exercise, even if in opposition to the expressed 
wishes of the pupils and the inclinations of the parents, to some 
extent, by the introduction of some other form of mental advance- 



8o Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

ment. Many rural communities have gladly accepted, when 
initiated by a teacher of tact, the reading club, the literary circle, 
and the debating society. There can be no doubt, however, but 
what the spelling match contains an element of popularity sub- 
serving some good purpose, and may be used, at long intervals, in 
the graded school and schools of higher instruction, as is fre- 
quently done. 

233. No; the verbal reiteration of long columns of words, or of 
words disconnected in sense, produces but very little good results. 
In repetition of a previous statement, there should be a judicious 
combination of oral and written spelling, the latter increasing in 
use as the pupil advances in years. But even this will prove 
comparatively unsatisfactory unless an incorporation of the words 
into sentences is had, and, additionally, their definitions and use 
as so defined. 

234. To the formation of a *' definition class." It is remark- 
able with what avidity a class of boys and girls of common ad- 
vancement in their studies, and under the most ordinary circum- 
stances, will accept the introduction of this praiseworthy mental 
exercise and the amount of work required from them, for its suc- 
cessful prosecution. If the school is without an Unabridged and 
the teacher is unable financially to secure one — though we have 
known of many instances of impoverished teachers securing them 
as a premium by acting as agent in getting subscribers for a paper, 
collecting a small SMva per capita from the pupils and then adding 
the balance necessary to make the amount of purchase money, even 
in the "backwoods" — try to secure the co-operation of the direc- 
tors or the patrons of the school, or both, in raising the sum 
necessary to buy one. If all this fails, you can certainly secure 
the adoption of some three, four, or half a dozen copies of the 
smaller grammar school or academic editions. 

235. Before the class is formed, require the pupils, occasionally, 
to define the simpler words, which they will naturally do to the 
best of their ability, and to construct sentences showing the mean- 
ing and the use of words. When the dictionaries are introduced, 
give the pupils a model similar to the following: "John came 
slowly toward his cottage hom.e." The underscored word indi- 
cates the one whose definition is required. Some five or six sen- 
tences may be placed upon the blackboard daily, or simply that 
number of words — to be incorporated into original sentences by 
the pupils themselves — for the morrow's lesson. 

236. The pupils may obtain a better knowledge of ordinary 
words: (i) Examples of simple words frequently mispronounced; 
as aunt, God, won't, want, extant, etc. (2) Examples of simple 
words frequently misspelled; as cupful, separate, repetition, until. 



Orthography. 8i 

etc. (3) Examples of simple words frequently misused; as don't 
for doesn't; can for may; shall for will; equals for equal, etc. 
In fact, the use of the dictionary may be regarded as a variation 
of the work of the spelling and grammar classes, and leads to the 
introduction of the study of the distinct branch, etymology. 

237. The correct pronunciation of geographical names, many 
of which are omitted from the vocabularies of geographies; as 
Pompeii, Worcester, Balaklava, Trafalgar, Monaco, Balmoral, 
Alnwick, Seville, etc.; the correct pronunciation of biographical 
names found in the lessons and in current literature; some account 
of the noted characters of fiction; history and mythology, whose 
names are found in the reading lessons and in various selections; 
the interpretation of foreign words and phrases frequently met in 
our readings; and the origin of many words in common use refer- 
ring to customs, persons and events. 

238* It should be remembered that the best teachers are gener- 
ally those who consult the dictionary most frequently; the most 
to be condemned are those who teach error rather than make the 
exertion to ascertain what is correct and true, and those who are 
disinclined to consult authorities before pupils, fearing thus to ex- 
pose their fallibility. Not only should the teacher make frequent 
use of this book for himself, — he should teach the school the 
value and the use of this important work, assured that the lessons 
he imparts and the habits he thus inculcates, will be of use to the 
members in all subsequent life. 

239. The teacher should refer to it in all cases of doubt and re- 
quire the pupils to do the same. Pupils should be encouraged to 
write in a note book for future investigation, all words or expres- 
sions about whose spelling, pronunciation, or correctness they 
have a present doubt. («) meanings; {b) pronunciations; ic) syl- 
labication of words, and in advanced classes {d), their synonyms 
which can be found in this book. There are some 2,000 words in 
English as to the pronunciation of which there are important dif- 
ferences, and a great many of accepted, varying orthography. 
Preference, therefore, must be given by teachers for the best 
usage and for the simpler forms. 

240. Drills on sounds and the names and uses of the diacritical 
marks — a subject generally very little understood, except in the 
North Central States — though these are not necessary to the skil- 
ful use of the dictionary. Definite drill on sounds with chart — the 
teacher should have them written upon the blackboard if he pos- 
sesses no other "appliances" — will familiarize pupils by eye and 
ear at once, with the marks and sounds they indicate. Attention 
should be given systematically to the reading matter at the begin- 
ning and end of the book. Pupils are in danger of missing these 



§2 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

laboratories of learning unless made acquainted with them in 
school. Faithful teachers will not omit the appendices, both for 
what is curious and useful to the pupils and themselves. 

241. It is a fact, too well known for recapitulation, that appli- 
cants for a teacher's certificate are woefully lacking in the triple 
subject of orthography, orthoepy, and etymology. There is no 
excuse for this, as a strong elementary acquaintance may be made 
with these studies at a slight cost,* and a thorough knowledge of 
them tends to increased excellence in other and advanced 
branches. 

242. In the closely crowded school-room, and such is fre- 
quently the condition, especially in district schools, the oppor- 
tunities offered for ** communicating" are increased from the na- 
ture of the exercise. Additional watchfulness on the part of the 
teacher, accompanied by an instantaneous punishment of this vio- 
lation of a presupposed rule or law — unwritten or expressed — is 
the sole remedy. The form of punishment should be a removal 
from the class and association with it for the instant, fol- 
lowed by a marking of demerits and such remarks at the close of 
the recitation as show the hurtful and immoral tendencies of the 
act of transgression. 

243. First, the simple spelling or reiteration of the letters of the 
word; second, the proper division of the word into syllables; third, 
the marking of the letters diacritically; and, fourth, the proper ac 
centuation of ihe word. Though objection is offered to the repeti- 
tion of the syllables in oral spelling as in innocent : in-tn-no-no, 
znno, etc., it is the testimony of many able educators that such use 
secures better articulation, pronunciation, and spelling. It cer- 
tainly cultivates the habit of carefulness, a very desirable quality 
in the pupil. 

244. They should be taught incidentally (both in spelling and 
reading), but not until pupils are perfectly able to take this work, 
and in a third grade — or class corresponding — and above, they 
should be taught the diacritical marks and their uses. 

245. I. Omit a from the diagraph ea when pronounced as e 
short, as in hed, helth, etc. 2. Omit silent e after a short vowel, 
as in hav, giv, etc. 3. Write / iox ph in such words as alfabet, 
fantom, etc. 4. When a word ends with a double letter omit the 
last, as in shal, clif, eg, etc. 5. Change ^</ final to t where it has 
the sound of t, as in lasht, mixt, etc. 

246. By a thorough drill in the distinct science of orthography, 
united with a knowledge of phonetics, accentuation, and elemen- 

* Divie Question Book, No. 15, of Orthography, Orthoepy and Etymology. 



Psychology — Natural Science. 83 

tary etymology. The means for acquiring a knowledge of this 
are placed within the reach of every teacher at a very slight cost. 

PSYCHOLOGY. 

247. Most assuredly. That knowledge of human nature, and 
more especially of child nature, is one of the prominent character- 
istics of a successful teacher. It aids in imparting instruction, in 
securing attention, and in exercising easy control over the pupils. 
The psychological principles which apply to the work of teaching 
are the following: i. The intellectual faculties are distinguished 
from each other in the order of their development. 2. The activ- 
ity of the higher powers is conditioned upon the activity of the 
lower. 3. The mind tends to act again in the same way, or in a 
similar way to that in which it has acted before. 4. The mind 
naturally proceeds from the specific to the general; from the con- 
crete to the abstract; and other relations which are but a repeti- 
tion of Pestalozzi's laws. 

248. This, and moral philosophy and psychology, should be 
studied by the teacher who desires to attain prominence in his 
profession. There are small manuals'^ upon the subject readily ob- 
tained, and though the subject may be " dry reading," the sooner 
it is recognized by him that there is a Science of Education founded 
upon mental laws, and that the way to true success in teaching 
can only be found by a close study of that science, the sooner and 
better will he be placed upon the royal road of well doing. 

249. The source of many evils and errors in school-work. 
Many cases of indigestion, of nervousness, of general weakness 
— though this additionally, comes under the head of physiological 
knowledge — even of apparent backwardness of intellect, are due 
to insufficient out-door exercise and premature study. Children 
vary greatly as to the age at which they begin to bear restraint on 
the freedom of their movement, and strain upon their attention. 
Mill may have begun Greek at four, but Hunter did not know his 
alphabet at seven. So, too, we violate a principle of pedagogic 
ethics, if we begin arithmetic by teaching the child to count, or- 
ally, I, 2, 3, etc. 

NATURAL SCIENCE. 

250. In endeavoring to teach science, a method has extensively 
prevailed which admirably illustrates the process of how not to do 
it. The student is referred to a book, instead of natural objects, 
to procure his preliminary ideas in regard to the subject. He is 
required to accept authority, in the place of making personal inves- 
tigation. He learns a formula of words, which is said to be a law, 
or rule, or definition, when he is utterly ignorant of the facts upon 



84 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

which the law or rule is based, and of the knowledge embodied in 
the definition. The whole performance is a substitution of appar- 
ent for real knowledge, and, whether resulting from ignorance or 
design, is a practical fraud, by which not only are time and labor 
lost, but the mind becomes so deteriorated as to be unable to dis- 
tinguish between the spurious and the real, the false and the true. 

251. As it makes us acquainted with our environment, with the 
relations of our surroundings to ourselves, and with all the condi- 
tions necessary to be observed for the preservation of our own ex- 
istence, a neglect of the truths taught, entail upon us disease, suffer- 
ing and death. An intelligent comprehension of these truths en- 
ables us to avoid, in a large measure, the causes of disease, to 
diminish suffering, and to prevent the premature termination of 
life. 

252. It infuses vigor and mental action upon the part of the boy 
or girl. In the district school a five minute " talk" can be given 
upon the rudimental facts in general science, and this, supple- 
mented by a " query box," has never yet failed as an element of 
popularity, interest, and increased strength in the school and its 
progress. David P. Page, in his T heory and Practice of Teaching, 
gives a most interesting sketch of a lesson upon an ear of corn, 
under the suggestive title of " Waking up Mind." This work 
was first published in 1847, and the lesson in question was one of 
the first expositions of the nature and value of object-lessons even 
made in this country. 

253. It is probably the case that much work done in the school- 
room is of a fragmentary character ; that although it arouses the 
attention and trains the observing powers, it often fails to show the 
relation of one lesson to another, and to give that connected chain 
of thought that scientific reasoning will. 

254. Without a text-book, even the teacher should be able to im- 
part instruction in the applications of this science apparent in the 
familiar operations of every-day life. The management of house- 
hold tools and implements ; the circulation of water and the prin- 
ciples of hydrostatics and hydraulics ; the gaseous operations in 
the admission and the egress of air, in warming and ventilating, 
and in the use of coal-gas for illumination. 

255. A certain amount involving a knowledge of the corroding 
effect of acids and of alkalies, the solvent action of spirits of wine 
and of oil of turpentine for varnished surfaces that are unaffected 
by water, the protection of dresses and of furniture from danger- 
ous chemicals used in household work ; as well as many things 
connected with washing, with cookery, and with the keeping of 
household stores. Life may be saved by simply knowing that lime 



Physiology. 85 

thrown down an unused well or opening, will destroy the fatal car- 
bonic acid gas by converting it into carbonate of lime. 

PHYSIOLOGY. 

256. Physiology has been much neglected, but this assertion 
does not apply to the schools of the fourteen states where this 
branch of study is required by law in examination and teaching — 
though in some of these it is the result of very recent legislative 
enactment— but in the rest it is almost an unknown factor in edu- 
cation. Many graded schools and some district schools, in which 
Algebra, Physical Geography, Physics, and other advanced 
branches are taught, do not have ''the science of the body" en- 
rolled in their list of studies. 

257. Those embodied in practical measures as to the need of 
pure air, sufficient and wholesome food, alternation of rest and 
exercise, the dependence of the mental powers on bodily condi- 
tions, and the sanitary conditions of the school-room, with their 
influence upon the mental and moral natures of the pupils. 

258. The very simplest explanation of how we live, explaining 
the uses of the heart and lungs, locating and naming some of the 
principal bones, arteries, etc. ; with particular lessons, lectures or 
talks on exercising care of the eye and preservation of the general 
health. In advanced classes, the subject should be studied by 
means of blackboard outlines. Experiments by the teacher are 
necessary in practical illustration. 

259. Even if he does not teach it nor expect at any time to give 
instruction in this deeply ittteres ting siudy, he will gain a knowledge 
of its application to the pupil when to induct him into the use of a 
certain study. For instance: Anatomists tell us that the brain 
grows with great rapidity up to seven years of age; it then attains 
an average weight of forty ounces (in the male). The increase is 
much slower between seven and fourteen, when it attains forty- 
five ounces; still slower from fourteen to twenty, when it is very 
near its greatest size. Consequently, of the more difficult intellec- 
tual exercises, some that would be impossible at five or six are 
easy at eight, through the fact of brain-growth alone. It often 
happens that you try a pupil with a peculiar subject at a certain 
age, and you entirely fail; wait a year or two, and you succeed, 
and that without seemingly having done anything expressly to lead 
up to the point; although there will inevitably be, in the meantime, 
some sort of experience that helps to pave the way. 



♦Allen's Mind Studies (50 c.), Welch's Talks on Psychology (50 c.), Welch's 
Teacher's Psychology (81.25). are published by E. L. 'Kellogg & Co. 



86 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

260. There is, states a leading authority, a movement all along 
the school line upon the subject of hygiene. School houses are 
overhauled, and any infringement of sanitary laws mercilessly ex- 
posed. The proper directions for seating pupils with reference to 
light, the floor, space, and air supply of rooms, the sanitary 
conditions of play-grounds and out-buildings, the limitation upon 
study and study hours, all these are the preliminary steps of inves- 
tigation. The physiological conditions of the pupil are the ground- 
work of the discussion. "No theory of education is satisfactory 
that does not claim the whole child," How to get the greatest 
possible good with the least possible harm out of school life, for 
both mind and body, is the present problem in education. 

261. Where in use it seems to have been generally regarded as 
somewhat of a useless complement or as an occasional supplement 
to other studies. No attention has been given to its purpose as a 
" moral factor" in teaching boys and girls the right knowledge of 
its practical application to the daily needs of life, and of the evil 
consequences arising from a neglect of an observance of the laws 
of nature. 

262. Every teacher in whom there is a spark of patriotism and 
righteous care for the children in his charge, must see the necessity 
there is that they should not only be warned against the evils of 
intemperance, but taught to despise alcoholic drinks and stimu- 
lants, and narcotics of all kind. The lessons should be given both 
directly and incidentally as the occasion is offered. 

263. What to do in case of accident. The power to be able to act 
promptly and rightly in case of an emergency is one of the grand- 
est ever given to mortal, and a youth may be taught this important 
knowledge. 

264. Children should not be allowed to grow up in ignorance of 
the most important health requirements. But there is a prevailing 
lack of knowledge of the subject everywhere, at present. Men and 
women whose views on other subjects are given with a meaning, 
the result of earnest thought, on questions of hygiene, show a 
degree of ignorance which, to the professional man, would be ridi- 
culous. 

265. This is a practical demonstration of physiological knowl- 
edge that receives attention in our larger cities and towns, princi- 
pally from the fact that suggestions made by the superintendent, 
and rules adopted by the board of education, bear directly upon 
the observance of such attention on the part of the teacher. But 
in many of the smaller towns and villages teachers never give a 
thought to the health and comfort of the children committed to 
their care. 



Physiology. 87 

266. As even many of the larger children do not realize the im- 
portance of putting on their garments before leaving the room, 
but will often defer *' wrapping up " until the open air is reached, 
or hastily arrange them while passing out of the building, it is the 
teacher's duty to see that sufficient time is allowed for the putting 
on of overshoes and all other " protections" that have been pro- 
vided. 

267. To teach well requires a sound body. This is one of the 
first requisites of a good teacher. Mens sana in corpore sano (" A 
sound mind in a sound body") is a well established axiom. Though 
it is not necessary that he should be a practical gymnast or a 
teacher of physical culture, a knowledge of calisthenics should be 
his, and a few minutes' drill in this mild exercise will create a feel- 
ing of rest, vivify the sluggish and apathetic nature of your pupils 
on a dull winter's afternoon, and cause them to turn to their studies 
and recitations with renewed interest.* 

268. ** If properly directed," says Dr. Austin Flint, Jun., of 
New York, himself famous for his fine physique, '* gymnastics will 
enlarge and strengthen the muscles of the trunk, legs, arms, and 
neck, will expand the chest, so giving the lungs free room to play; 
will render the joints supple, and impart grace, ease, and steadiness 
of carriage, combined with strength, quickness, and elasticity of 
movement." 

269. The usual plan adopted is to open the windows or swing 
back the door. Sometimes this is the very best and the only thing 
to do. Our school houses all over the land need better ventilation 
— automatic, if possible — that is, such as will regulate itself. 

270. Yes; into a few of our new and expensive buildings im- 
proved methods are being introduced, and generally in connection 
with the heating. The favorite plan has always been to have in 
use a movable bound pane of glass swinging on hinges. There is 
no chance to allow the airs of heaven to draw through the mental 
warehouses, or tight brick walls of the old-time school-house in 
village or town. 

271. When there would be danger of a too sudden cooling of the 
room, or the making of a dangerous draft by opening doors or 
windows, then the following plan can be used: Raise each window 
about six inches, and in the open space beneath the sash fit a 
plain board, leaving it short enough to be removed at pleasure. 
Upon this let the lower sash rest. 

272. This simple expedient is already known to many, but its 
ventilating capacity can easily be more than doubled by a simple 

* Ballard's School Gymnastics (50 c), published by E. L. Kellogg & Co. 



88 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

modification of it, not so widely known. Thus, where more air is 
wanted, but a direct horizontal draft from the bottom of an open 
window is objectionable, then fit the board into vertical slots fixed 
to the window casing, a few inches from the sash and resting on 
the sill. 

273. It is necessary, as nowhere else will the majority of pupils 
receive the necessary attention. Within the past few years great 
attention has been given to the development of the child's phy- 
sique in the schools of many of the " centres of wealth," and with 
much benefit. There is, of course, still a feeling of conservatism 
among school committees and directors. The proper teaching of 
physiology in connection with physical culture, can not but be 
attended with the best results. 

274. As a form of life, primary instruction may be given in 
botany, of so-called " plant lessons." Secure the attention of the 
child and cultivate its powers of observation, by having them 
study the germination of little sprouts, and notice for themselves 
what has taken place. Question them of the number of parts 
they may find, where one part has grown, of its name, tell them 
of the stem and leaves, give them seeds, and instruct them upon 
their divisions. Explain to them how the little plant gets its food, 
and how it obtains it from the earth. Illustrate by having some 
very small pieces of sponge tied to strings and the strings tied 
together, and dipping the ends in water, show how the sponges 
suck up the water. A first lesson in capilarity. 

275. In the country school. Learn the names of every wayside 
flower, both botanical and provincial designations, and teach them 
to the little folk, who will remember such instruction longer than 
their arithmetic or grammar lessons; will gain as much discipline 
in learning it, will enjoy it better, and will be none the less pro- 
ficient in other studies because of this systematic diversion out of 
school. 

276. There are books now published that enable one to supple- 
ment his knowledge of plants, and if he or she or both will begin 
with the wayside flower of the early spring they can grow with its 
growth and multiplicity without apparent effort. 

277. When the air of a room is as pure as that out of doors. 
To accomplish this result, it is necessary to allow for each person 
eight hundred cubic feet of space, while ventilation is going on in 
the best manner known. 

278. The careful use of all means tending to his own health 
while watching for myopia, color blindness, the stooping posture, 
weak chests, and sinking shoulders among his pupils. 

279. As injury from burns are very common, every child should 



Geography. 89 

know what is to be done. It is found that after a large burn the 
blood becomes thick and does not flow. As this results from the 
absence of blood-water, owing to its rapid exudation from the 
inflamed surface, the treatment should be to arrest this flow, and 
soda and water put on. It may be used spread on like a cloth. 
Soda not only removes the pain, but helps the formation of new 
flesh. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

280. Because he can comprehend that which he can see better 
than that which he can not see, and you can give him an idea of 
the general surface of the earth by showing him particular por- 
tions of it. Also, it is of more importance that he should know 
his own locality, than it is for him to know all about countries 
** across the sea," and yet be ignorant of his own immediate sur- 
roundings. 

281. By a drawing on the blackboard, or by calling its atten- 
tion to a carriage or wagon coming or going over the hill. If you 
have no blackboard (a condition of "things" that we trust does 
not exist, although there are some miserable substitutes), or there 
is no hill, explain to him with as simple an apparatus as a pencil 
and an apple. 

282. This may be made one of the most useful pieces of school 
furniture, and it may also be made one of the most useless. To be 
the former, it must be to the pupil a picture of the earth. If he 
thinks of it as a globe of wood, it will be of no more benefit to 
him than any other piece of wood. The ecliptic must be clearly 
seen, and its relation to the equator, the axis, and the poles, fully 
understood. The relation of the axis of the globe to the ecliptic 
and the sun — explaining the cause of the change of seasons — must 
be known. The relation of the revolution of the globe to the sun, 
producing day and night, must be clearly seen. The globe should 
be made to reproduce in imagination all the motions of the earth; 
in other words, it must be the real earth in miniature. Charts 
descriptive and geographical, and a tellurian are useful auxiliaries 
here. 

283. That of retaining the pupil's interest. The study of the 
continent of Asia may be irksome to a pupil who has little or no 
knowledge of geography, while the study of the township or 
county in which he resides may be to him a source of great 
pleasure. 

284. It is to be remembered that much more opportunity is 
offered for oral instruction in the lower departments of a graded 
school, than in simply a building of one or two rooms. The pur- 
pose is to have the pupil when the name of a country or product 



90 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

is mentioned, to go in imagination to that region, and not to the 
side of some map on a certain page. Taking a primary class by 
surprise and asking them to point to the north, they will, in many 
instances, point to the ceiling, for that the top of the map is 
north has become a habit. 

285. It arises from the fact that even among the leading pupils 
there is a habit of referring everything to a map, that leads to 
unavoidable errors. The ordinary boy or girl will frequently 
decide that Paris is west of him, because it is on the left side of 
the map. 

286. The approved way is by drawing the picture of the school- 
room, the yard, town, city, etc., and then by the moulding-board 
go on to form and illustrate the continents. 

287. After securing loam — moulding sand from the foundries is 
preferred — moisten it sufficiently and just so much that it will not 
stick to the hands and yet retain the form given it. Take for the 
first trial, South America. Let five or six pupils go to the mould- 
ing-board while the rest of the class stand near to suggest and 
criticise. Direct the pupils, letting them use their hands, or fiat 
pieces of wood, to put the loam on the board into such shape as 
will represent the outline and surface of the continent. Let the 
pupils work, and if, after a while, the lesson lacks point, suggest 
what to do, and even trim the outline here or there, or change the 
surface. For aid have a wall map before the class all the while, 
and use also the relief maps as found in Appleton's, Swinton's, 
Maury's, or Monteith's Geographies. The first trial may not be 
very successful, but practice will cause the pupils to improve, and 
after two or three trials, a fine model will be produced. When 
moulded, lay pieces of colored worsted upon the moulded conti- 
nent for rivers, and round pieces of paper for the cities. 

288. From the earliest moment. Primary classes can be 
trained in this useful adjunct, and a rapid development of the 
drawing faculty is most always seen in the higher grades. When 
pupils can draw most excellent maps, accurate in outline and ar- 
tistic in design, front memory alone, the highest perfection of 
geography instruction has been reached. 

289. It is the method of some of the best teachers to discard 
their use entirely for the first two or three years. They make the 
sun the object of reference in reality. Having made the pupil 
discover where the sun rises, they take him in imagination on 
board an ocean steamer, and sail seven days and nights toward the 
rising sun until he is shown a new land — Ireland or England. 

290. The direction of east and west naturally from the rising 
and setting orb of the day. The north can be found by observing 



Geography. 91 

their shadows at noon, and better yet, by becoming familiar with 
the position' of the north star. In all this primary work, the im- 
agination has had full swing, and best of all, the habit of referring 
everything to its proper place on the earth's surface, and not to 
some page or spot on a map, has become fixed. 

291. As they find it difficult to understand the measurements 
well enough to copy a map from the board, a text-book should be 
given them. If it is inconvenient or impossible to furnish them 
with a geography containing suitable maps for drawing, the 
teacher will find a writing pad a great blessing. Drawing the 
map, measuring always by the inch, they ink it, place it upon the 
pad and print off as many copies as are needed. 

292. That of their immediate surroundings, the townships, 
counties of the State, and State. Some teachers have introduced 
this exercise by having the children draw a map of the school- 
house, calling upon them to make the necessary measurements 
and to copy the map after it is drawn. 

293. The class is divided into companies of four, and each pro- 
vided with a large board, a basin of sand and some sticks with 
which they build a representation of the school-house and the 
fence around it. The pupils are sent after twigs of pine to put in 
for trees, and whenever a dispute arises as to the location of any- 
thing, one is sent out to investigate. It will be a noisy exercise, 
but full of practical interest to the children. 

294. Taking the next district in a similar manner, telling them 
about the school officers, and placing a list of their names upon 
the board to be copied by the pupils, as well as the name of any 
hill or creek that may be in the district. Succeed this by a de- 
scription of the town or township and county, etc. 

295. Two days may be allowed for the drawing of the map, 
and one for the copying of names. The class exercises consist in 
learning the directions and locations, " talks" about the resources 
and occupations, and in connection with the State, something of 
the history of it. 

296. To illustrate by a veritable class recitation, the pupils are 
studying the shape, surface, and general features of the continent 
of Australia. One of the class is appointed to act as a scribe, and 
write out the facts as learned. The pupils are supposed to have 
read their books, and are now up for examination. On a table 
before the class is a pile of brown moulding sand. The first step 
is to spell the name Australia. 

297. The study of the shape of Australia, its surface, mountain 
ranges, and plains, is performed entirely with the moulding sand. 



92 Questions in the Art of Teaching . 

Each pupil volunteers a fact concerning the matter, and illustrates 
it in the heap of sand. 

298. If there is a mistake made there is a vote taken to see if 
the majority of the class can correct the error. Every subject in 
geography is illustrated on the table. The child is not told to 
read in a book that "an island is a portion of land entirely sur- 
rounded by water.'* These children are given a lump of clay and 
instructed to make an island of clay on the table, and then cover 
the top of the table with water, to show that the island is really 
surrounded by water. 

299. In alack of being sufficiently practical in their methods 
of instruction. The leading facts and terms of descriptive, physi- 
cal, and mathematical geography can all be learned within a few 
miles of every school-house in the land. 

300. Never. Pupils have been taught to memorize indiscrimi- 
nately, and without any appreciation of the meaning involved, 
whole pages pertaining to distant countries which they never ex- 
pect to see — possibly hope they never will — while they are kept in 
profound ignorance of the natural, historical, political, social, 
commercial, religious, and educational facts and statistics of their 
own township, county, or State. 

301. Mathematical geography; for by the knowledge we obtain 
of the earth in its relations to the other members of the solar sys- 
tem, we are enabled to form clearer conceptions of the laws that 
govern terrestrial phenomena. 

302. Use a copying-pad that will give forty or fifty copies. 
Draw a map — the State of California for instance — and mark rivers 
by letters, and twenty cities by figures. Designate the coal, gold, 
and mineral sections. Give a copy to each pupil and have them 
recite by calling the numbers, and answering by mentioning the 
name of the place, and vice versa. 

303. Copy off the most common words, cut in slips of five or 
six, and give them out to be copied and marked with accents, 
diacritical marks, syllables, and have them formed into sentences. 
" Games" may also be used, under judicious management, by 
giving for instance, the word '* Naples^'' and having the class in a 
blackboard exercise, form names from the succeeding letters of 
the word, with their location, etc., producing, in fact, a geographi- 
cal acrostic. This may be varied by having ten words, commenc- 
ing with the same letter, given to the pupils, allotting the suc- 
cessive letters of the alphabet to the different members of the 
class; having them find — ''hunt up" — the words commencing and 
ending with "a," **e,"and **o." 

304. The teacher assigns the lesson, probably a half column of 



Geography. 93 

map questions for review. For instance, on the map of Africa, 
the cities, capes, lakes, rivers, and mountains are given as the 
subject. All must be learned alike — committed to memory. The 
pupil must be able to tell in what part of what country, and on 
which side of what river each city or town is situated. All are of 
equal importance. Derr or Magadoro, is of much significance as 
Cairo or Liberia. They must also learn from what part of what 
country, into what water, and in what direction each cape projects. 
Cape Lopez is equally as important as Cape Verde or Good Hope; 
and so on through the list. The situation and outlet of lakes 
must be given; the source, direction, and outlets of the rivers, and 
the exact situation of every mountain peak, or situation and direc- 
tion of every range. 

305. During the class hour, she sits at her desk with her book 
open before her, one index finger carefully keeping the place in 
the column of questions, the other industriously racing around 
over the map, like a hound hunting a lost track, trying to find the 
place, in order to be able to say " right" or "wrong" when it is 
located by the pupil. This gives the latter an excellent oppor- 
tunity to take a peep at a concealed book to refresh his memory. 
Thus the whole list is asked in the exact order of the book — not 
one place omitted. The next lesson is assigned (probably the same 
one over again), and the class is dismissed, apparently as well 
satisfied with the performance as the teacher. 

306. It is hardly possible that it is of benefit; at least, a magni- 
fying glass of very great power (with the mental addition) would 
be required to discern it. It is a very easy way for the teacher (?) 
provided she be not easily embarrassed by the long silence neces- 
sarily following some of the answers, before she can say whether 
they were correct or not. True the memory is being cultivated 
and stored with facts (!) which may sometime in the dim distant 
future be useful. 

307. One differing from that already given by the simple addi- 
tion of having only the most important places learned — the others 
being omitted or recited with the book before the pupil as well as 
the teacher. In neither of these methods is the outline map or 
globe brought into requisition. The class usually manifests great 
interest in trying to invent some "side show" to prevent old 
Morpheus from spreading his balmy wings over them. 

308. Select from the list the places that are most important 
from a commercial or other standpoint, arouse the interest of the 
class by giving a short description of some city, or of a noted 
structure in some country — e. g., the pyramids of Egypt, or the 
ruins of^Thebes, or the great Suez Canal, the Kremlin of Moscow 
with its King of Bells, the Bank of England, Leaning Tower of 



94 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

Pisa, or the Brooklyn Bridge — encourage them to learn from the 
Encyclopaedia, Pronouncing Gazetteer, books of travel, or other 
sources, interesting descriptions of the people, products, animals, 
and "curiosities," the origin of names, and the ** history and 
romance" of the country. In the recitation, the pupils are en- 
couraged to tell what they have learned about the places men- 
tioned; one pupil is sent to the outline map, pointer in hand, to 
indicate the places designated. 

309. By the introduction of map-drawing. When the lesson is 
assigned, the teacher draws the map on the blackboard, taking the 
pupils on an imaginary voyage as he draws the outline, marking 
the principal gulfs, bays, capes, and cities along the coast, as he 
comes to them, stopping occasionally to throw in a lively descrip- 
tion, to retain the interest of the class. When the coast is com- 
pleted, a journey is made through the interior, locating in order 
the principal cities, rivers, lakes and mountains. 

310. Not more than fifteen or twenty places are required to be 
learned for one lesson, as the teacher considers a little well done 
better than a larger amount poorly done. The pupils are required 
to draw the map on their slates, and bring to the class three or 
four times before finally putting it on paper, for which a prize or 
extra credits are offered. Map-drawing froin memory is a subse- 
quent exercise. This is varied by having the whole class engaged 
on the same or different countries, states or divisions; or while 
three, four or six^ are sent to the blackboard, others recite the 
lesson, one being sent to the wall-map to point out the places. 

311. A little time — five or six minutes — is always taken at the 
beginning of the recitation for a rapid review of previous lessons. 
At the close of the recitation, and before assigning the next 
lesson, a few minutes are allowed for criticising the maps that have 
been drawn on the blackboard, and grading. Some of the best 
maps drawn on paper are used for ornamenting the room, by 
tacking them up on the wall, or better, by putting them in rustic 
frames and hanging them up around the room, to be exchanged 
for fresh ones of superior merit, as the original become soiled from 
dust and age. 

312. Relief maps or models, the best material for which con- 
sists of a thorough incorporation of the requisite amount of 
linseed oil with pure Spanish whiting; in other words, good putty 
of the right consistence. The plastic material rolled in the hand, 
is laid of suitable height to represent mountains and plateaus. 
The valleys, rivers, and lakes are then excavated, and the model 
is ready. To represent snow mountains, either plaster of Paris 
or zinc white may crown the summits. A mountain can be shown 



Geography. 95 

to be an active volcano by a small amount of dry vermillion placed 
in the crater. 

313. With a short camel's-hair brush, the various colors are 
dusted on, to represent the geographical features, employing, if 
desired, for easy remembrance and harmonious succession, the 
colors of the rainbow; various shades of red (with orange) char- 
acterizing the Paleozoic formation; of yellow (with green), the 
Mesozoic; of blue (with purple), the Cenozoic. The Plutonic 
rocks (granites, syenites, porphyries) can be well imitated by 
black, white, and reddish dots on an appropriate ground, meta- 
morphic rocks by longitudinal striae on suitable ground, as blue 
for clay slates, greenish for talcons, yellow for mica slate, etc. 
The igneous basalts, trachytes, etc., are represented by the shades 
of brown, the newer volcanic being of the lighter varieties. 

314. The ocean is made, upon the planed surface of the board, 
by using oil with chrome green, and the lakes, oil with some blue. 
Sandy deserts are easily imitated by dusting fine sand over the 
putty, while moist. This system is in practical use among the 
pupils of the schools of some Western States, and is attended with 
the greatest success. 

315. Astronomy, which is, more than any other science, valuable 
to the youth. " None will seize so strongly and fully upon the 
youthful mind. It hardens the body, sharpens the senses, prac- 
tices the memory, nourishes the fancy with the noblest images, 
develops the power of thinking, destroys all narrow mindedness, 
and lays an immovable foundation for faith in God." — F. G. L, 
Greszler. 

316. Placing the word " Races " on the blackboard, for instance, 
have the pupils define the term, and tell why it is applied to the 
different division of man. Let them tell where they are chiefly 
found, the features, characteristics, etc., of each race in an oral 
recitation. Having written the outline on the blackboard, take up 
the classes, needs, and occupations, throughout the topic. 

317. To the fact that distinctively English names have but a 
slight penetration beyond the Atlantic coast, except in Canada. 
The French follow a well marked line up the St. Lawrence and 
down the Mississippi. Dutch and German names give local color 
to the Hudson Valley and parts of Eastern Pennsylvania; and the 
Spanish have a broad occurrence in the far Southwest. Indian 
names occur everywhere, from the euphonious Minnesota to the 
doubtful Tuscaloosa and the abrupt Oshkosh. This location *' of 
place-names " or the study of *' geography below the line " is full 
of interest to teacher and pupil. 

318. Canada and the Provinces are on the sixtieth meridian (60) 



96 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

west of Greenwich; Maine to Florida, Ohio to Alabama, and the 
Lower Lakes, on the seventy-fifth (75); the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Valleys, the Upper Lakes and Texas, on the ninetieth (90); 
the Rocky Mountain Region, on the one hundred and fifth (105); 
and the Pacific States and British Columbia, on the one hundred 
and twentieth (120). The names of the ** time" are respectively 
Eastern, Atlantic, Valley, Mountahi, and Pacific. It is perhaps 
the most important change that has taken place since dollars and 
cents were substituted for pounds, shillings, and pence. Where 
formerly there were fifty-three different standards of time, there 
are now five, and these arranged so systematically that each 
standard is only one hour slower than the time of the next section 
east. It was generally adopted throughout the United States on 
the i8th of November, 1883. 

319. History, and the two ought never to be separated. The 
former is place; the latter, events. Events without place are 
merely stories. Place without events is simple emptiness. Events 
imply places, but place alone means nothing. History includes 
geography, and, when well and properly taught, gives the best 
and most lasting knowledge of the latter study. Geography, pur- 
sued by itself, is one of the most sterile of studies, as it affords 
little mental exercise save to the memory, and upon that it makes 
no lasting impression. The use of maps is, like the use of the dic- 
tionary, a life-long need of every intelligent reader. 



HISTORY. 

320. Lessons in this study should be assigned by topics, and- 
not by pages. All verbatim recitations of sentences and paragraphs 
should be strictly forbidden, and the pupils should be required to 
state the facts in their own language. An objective representation 
should be given by means of maps and charts; drawings and 
diagrams should be placed on the board of all the important mat- 
ters in the history of the nation. 

321. By topics and outlines. It can not be taught successfully 
on the niemoriter plan. The leading purpose should be to awaken 
an interest in the study that will induce pupils to read extensively, 
and enable them to classify and arrange historical events and facts 
so as to be easily remembered. They should be required to give 
narratives in their own language and not in the words of the text. 

322. Principally, by supplementing instruction on the part of 
the teacher. Information outside of the text-book will gradually 
be seized upon with avidity, and a hint from the teacher will result 
in pupils preparing themselves with pass books or memorandums, 
in which they will ** note" the more interesting facts. Unfortun- 



History. 97 

ately, errors in text-books of history are the rule and not the 
exception. 

323. By reference to encyclopaedias, dictionaries, gazetteers, 
and other works of established authority. Smaller books* have 
been prepared for this especial purpose, in which statements are 
made from a personal knowledge of the geography and typography 
of the scene of the event and the description taken as given by 
eye-witnesses, or in more ancient times from the traditions of the 
people, or from the writings of the first relator of the event. 

324. The leading events in U. S. History, with their dates, may 
be given to the pupils in a series of talks of which every *' live" 
teacher will avail himself. The means to be used are the black- 
board and the slate. Occasionally, insist upon their making a 
memorandum of some special date. A daily drill with a review 
of previous lessons will accomplish wonders and give the pupil a 
most thorough preparation for the study of the text-book. 

325. Nothing else that is taught in the public schools has so 
much to do with forming characters as the reading lessons. 
Especially is this true of the prose lessons in biography, in history, 
and in eloquence, and of nearly all the poetical pieces found in the 
well-edited readers. The teacher of a reading class, therefore, 
may be a moral teacher in the best sense of the word; almost, with- 
out appearing to do so, he can inculcate patriotism, truth, honor, 
reverence, and most of the moral virtues. 

326. Such a knowledge of history as can be given to the lower 
classes in school as wel) as to those more advanced, will awaken in 
the pupil a desire to read such books as will not poison their 
minds by bringing on that mental intoxication produced by the 
trashy literature of the day. 

327. By making full use of biography and such selections as 
have a historical connection with the subject. Your class will 
hardly fail to respond with feeling to a well-given reading of The 
RisUig, by Thomas Buchanan Reid ; The Landing of the Pilgrim 
Fathers, by Mrs. Hemans. Extracts from Bancroft's and Haw- 
thorne's account of the Boston massacre will give your pupils a 
vivid picture of the " lobsters " who entered the quiet streets and 
brought with them riot and death. Have them read Sheridaii s 
Ride when they reach that part of the history that calls for it — and 
also the siory oi Barbara Freitc hie. Then, there is Stonewall Jack- 
son s Way, etc. 

328. It is probably best to retain it for nothing else than a work 
of reference. Outlines and topical analyses can be formed from 

* Quizzism: and its Key. ''New. Edg. Pub. Co.," Boston. Price, $i.oo. 



98 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

its contents. The one grand purpose is to turn the attention of 
the pupil to biography, which has well been termed " the soul of 
history." Youth turns to it by an instinctive proclivity, preferring 
it to other channels of literature, and by a fortunate coincidence it 
is the one effective medium through which the ethics of history 
can be placed in bold relief. 

329. Systems of mnemonics, by which is meant the method of 
recollecting facts by associating them arbitrarily with some order 
of letters or characters, are generally not to be recommended, for 
when the effort to reTne??ibef is over, the whole system is liable to 
go with the fact. The law of natural 3.ssoc\2iiion is the one to be 
followed. 

330. Additionally, to those given in one or two manuals* pub- 
lished, relative to dates, other forms can be used, such as are given 
in these rude sentences, to recall the order of Presidents. " Wash- 
ington and Jefferson made many a joke. Van Buren had trouble 
plenty to find poor bank-notes. Let Johnson go home greatly 
agitated." Here the initials of the words in order represent their 
names ; or Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, 
Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fil- 
more. Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Garfield, Arthur. 
Some additional word may be added to the sentence, representing 
Cleveland. 

331. By fixing the events, which occur at certain dates, so 
vividly in the mind, through the medium of instruction, relation, 
or reading, that the dates will be memorized as a matter of 
secondary importance. 

332. Never make the history lesson a reading exercise. This 
obsolete usage is, unfortunately, too frequently in vogue in many 
of our common schools. The study or the progress of civiliza- 
tion, the growth of a nation or the accomplishments of individuals 
and the relation they bear to existing slate of things is one study ; 
the trial of giving expression to the sentiments of an author, in 
his own words, with all that is contained in the idea of " vocal 
culture," is quite another. 

333. The wise teacher will remember that a pertinent anecdote, 
judiciously told, will frequently do more to impress an historical 
fact than twenty stereotyped questions that might be asked during 
the same time. 

334. With larger students, never use a uniform text-book. 
Place the topics for the following day's lesson on the board to be 
copied on paper by each pupil. In the recitations, encourage dis- 
cussions as much as possible. If the class be a large one, convert 

No. 5 (General History), Dime Series, with Original System of Mnemonics. 



History. 99 

the entire recitation into a debate, dividing the class into two 
divisions, and appointing leaders for each. 

335. When prominent dates occur, place them upon the black- 
board. Call attention to them frequently and use them for monthly 
reviews. Do not insist, however, upon the pupils retaining all the 
dates; it not only consumes valuable time but is the principal 
source of the complaint that the study is "dry." 

336. It is in harmony v^rith the thought that all instruction is a 
comparative failure that does not induce much of reading beyond 
the necessarily skeletonized school text-book, however high the 
per cents, may be that are secured in such text-book. Many schools 
offer additional credits to the pupils for the reading of Plutarch's 
Lives, and a corresponding per cent, for any biography of ancient 
distinguished men by the Abboits or any other authors, and 
sketches of Shakespeare's y^Z/wj- CcEsar, Coriolamis, or Mai-k An- 
thony ; Herodotus ; the historical works of Miss Yonge, Arnold, 
Merivale, Mommsen, and fiction such as the Last Days of Pompeii^ 
The Victor Vanquished, Hypaiia, etc. In American history, the 
pupil is induced to read Irving's Coluj?ibus, and Voyages of Colum- 
bus and His Companions ; Bancroft's Histo7y ; Capt. John Smith's 
Generall Historie ; Palfrey's IListory of New E^igland, and a 
variety of sketches written by the earlier authors of New England 
and Virginia, to which the teacher may make reference. 

337. When a child is old enough to know a forest when he sees 
one, or to know the building of a house, the condition of this 
country and the kind of people that lived here before it was dis- 
covered by Europeans may be described to him. The fact should 
be emphasized that there were no roads or railroads, no steam- 
boats, no mail carriers, no books nor newspapers. He may be 
taught the salient points in the history of his own town, and the 
origin of its name, the townships, the county, the State, and as 
soon as he has a knowledge of the geography of his country, the 
story of the settlements of Virginia and Massachusetts. 

338. To cultivate in pupils a desire for collateral historical 
reading. Whether or not the pupils master the lessons assigned 
each day, is not in the long run so important as that they form or 
acquire a taste for the reading of histories. The only limit te the 
success of this plan is the ability of the pupils to obtain books. 

339. The shameful dearth of general information among teach- 
ers. It is a very unfortunate fact that many teachers know very 
little of current history. There are some half-dozen publications, 
weekly and monthly, that give an accurate record of the political, 
scientific, and industrial news of the day, and with all this the 
teacher should keep pace. 



TOO Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

340. By a free, full, and judicious use of the *' News Bulletin," 
to which reference has already been made, and the pinning upon 
the walls or arranging in a case prepared for the purpose, printed 
items clipped from the papers, of local or general interest. A 
school can thus be as thoroughly informed upon an Egyptian war, 
or a tariff discussion, or the progress of the work upon the Panama 
Canal, as any adult reader. Their interest will also be shown by 
bringing to the teacher clippings bearing upon the subject and a 
friendly competition to furnish *' matter" for the bulletin, which 
they should be allowed to enter in their own handwriting. The 
teacher and pupils should have the mutual right to take charge of 
this exercise. 

341. An exact duplication of that used in teaching literature. 
The biographical outline of a noted statesman, warrior, or legis- 
lator, must necessarily be similar to that given of an author. The 
topic on a war or wars, or a certain "period" may have its 
divisions and subdivisions separated by brace connections as in a 
grammatical diagram, or by using the. expo7ie7tiial syste7?i so promi- 
nent in physiological outlines. But this is a mere "form" to be 
supplemented by a vivifying oral recitation. Its special use is at 
the examination. 

342. That of Civil Government. Teachers on examination fail 
to answer the simplest questions. A growing demand from ex- 
aminers, and the expostulations of editors, with the articles from 
leading educators and newspaper editorials, that the youth of the 
country should be instructed more fully in this fundamental 
branch of study, is producing good results, and arousing an inter- 
est which has been increased by the recent publication of several 
text-books upon the subject. 

343. A topical outline of "The Senate" and "The House of 
Representatives " should be presented to the pupil. The neces- 
sary qualifications of age and time of residence, their eligibility, 
and duties of the senator and representative should be firmly im- 
pressed upon their minds. Many of our best text-books on his- 
tory show their realization of the importance of the subject by a 
set of graded questions in connection with the Constitution, treat- 
ing pf the powers and duties of Congress, the "rights" of each 
separate branch of the Government, and a definition of the various 
laws, and the legal and technical phraseology used. 

344. That of constant review ; and while this maxim applies to 
all studies, it is of redoubled force in its application to all that per- 
tains to matters of history and government. Nor is the govern- 
ment of your own State, and the work of its legislative, judicial, 
and executive departments, to be neglected. 



History. loi 

345. By having some of the older pupils present, in the form of 
a composition, the qualifications, duties, term of office and salary 
of the officers of Government, and have the same read to the 
school. Select some one to collect from the daily papers the acts of 
Congress, and him read them to the school, from time to time, in 
the form of an essay, or as a simple statement. Furnish to them 
the biography of some past or present noted man, who has repre- 
sented their county, district, or State in the halls of the nation. 

346. It is a wrong principle to delay instruction until near the 
close of the term or the completion of the text-book on history. 
Weekly and semi-weekly drills may be given from the first few 
weeks of school. Do not attempt to teach but a few of the powers 
of Congress at a time ; have an occasional concert drill upon them, 
and always precede the lesson by a review. The Preamble to the 
Constitution is worthy a careful study, and may well be committed 
to memory. 

347. Charts of history and of Civil Government, which are usu- 
ally supplied in the schools of cities and towns, and occasionally 
in those of the country. The teacher who knows their benefit and 
feels the lack of such apparatus, will attempt to supply their 7teed 
by drawings and outlines upon the blackboard, which the pupils 
may be requested to copy, and ultimately, to present themselves in 
the same manner. A school festival, a lecture, or an exhibition, 
may sometimes secure the means to supply the school-room with 
this useful apparatus. 

348. A knowledge of the ways in which acts of Congress be- 
come laws ; of the veto power, and who exercises it, then a com- 
parison of the powers of the president with those of the governor ; 
whether the governor has the vetoing power or not ; the names of 
chief magistrates of other States ; and finally the names of the 
rulers of other powers of the earth with their forms of govern- 
ment. Where the sovereign power is vested in the people, the 
importance of citizenship is greatly increased, and hence there is 
no other country in which history should receive greater attention 
than in the United States. It is a lamentable fact that of all the 
young men who voted for the first time in the presidential election 
of 1884, not one in ten had studied the history of this country, in 
the schools. 

349. That which leads to the study of historical etymology and 
philology, and the distinct science of ethnology, for an enormous 
fund of history is embodied in the language of a people. 

350. By reasoning from a variety of objects, pictures, works of 
art, and relics, such as the old Greek drinking-horn, which while 
it held from one to two quarts was so made that when once filled 
it must be dr^ineci before it could be laid down, shows the 



I02 Qiiestions in the Art of Teaching!;. 

way that people dealt with the temperance problem. Not only, 
indeed, has this method created our knowledge of the mound- 
builders of America and the lake-dwellers of Switzerland, but it has 
extended our knowledge of people who come within the bounds of 
modern history. 

351. It develops a spirit of patriotism in our people. Let a boy 
read of the wrongs inflicted upon our fair republic in her strug- 
gling infancy, or of the. successes she has achieved in her early 
maturity, and his soul is stirred with feelings of loyalty ; he is not 
only ready but eager to swear fealty to her interests. A knowl- 
edge of history may be considered one of the prime requisites of a 
good citizen. 

PENMANSHIP. 

352. *' The body must always be in a position nearly erect, near 
to, but never leaning upon or touching the desk. The feet must 
have a direction corresponding to the slant of the letters. The 
hands must always be at right angles to one another, or, in other 
words, an easy, convenient, and healthful position." — Spenceriait 
Key, 

353. This *' neglected art" should receive attention from the 
first, and the pupil be taught to write as he is to read. "Sys- 
tems " of penmanship are not to be drilled into the young child. 
The teacher should be able to write clearly and legibly on the 
blackboard, and this serves as a *' copy." 

354. They are benefited in many ways by copying a reading 
lesson or the literature gems the teacher may have written on the 
board, and which they should commit to memory. 

The copying serves as a good drill in penmanship and punctua- 
tion, it teaches the use of capitals, the way to spell, and fixes the 
lessons in the pupil's mind better than merely looking at it. These 
are the special advantages of learning to write when learning to 
read. 

355. For primary classes and pupils in the intermediate depart- 
ments of schools, it is best for the teacher to devise a set of writing 
exercises that will secure first, free and easy movements ; then the 
subject of shading, and afterward, attention maybe paid to angles, 
height, etc. 

356. Never in giving instruction to the younger pupils, and 
unless judiciously used with the more advanced, the results are 
the formation of crooked letters, distorted features, and cramped 
and palsied fingers. In this branch "of ** work," practice makes 
perfect. The blackboard is a far better means than the copy- 
book, 



Penmanship. 103 

357. In many of the graded schools of the country, town, or 
city, the writing-books are distributed by monitors, and, at the word 
of command, the pupils take pen, uncover their ink wells, open to the 
day's lesson, and commence to write. This lesson covers a desig- 
nated period of time. Frequently, the movements are '* timed." 
Similar commands are given at the close, the monitors taking the 
books and replacing them in a case or rack used for this especial 
purpose. Seldom, if ever, the teacher passes around to criticise, 
aid, or suggest. The pupils do not see their books at any other 
time. This system ensures quietude and a clock-like precision 
of manners, and that is about all. The teacher grades the lesson 
at a convenient opportunity, and when " filled," the book is given 
to the pupil, the best specimens of writing being retained for pur- 
poses of exhibition. 

358. To advance pupils, attention may be called to the angles of 
slant and correction, an exposition of "The Nine Principles" may 
be given, and the similarity of construction of many of the small 
letters, and the fact that the Capital Stem enters into the formation 
of one-half of the capital letters; but movement-drills and exercises 
in forming ovals, continuous circles, and all such combinations 
as are necessary to secure ease and grace, and make the ready 
penman, will prove highly beneficial. 

359. One excellent method is to prepare the slates by ruling one 
side of them permanently, by scratching, as copy books are ruled 
— slates are sold with the lines painted — with equidistant lines 
and three spaces, or with two lines to indicate the height of the 
small letters, and a line above and one below to indicate the length 
of loop letters. Great care should be taken to first teach the pupils 
how to form the letters. Teach them to draw straight lines; verti- 
cal and slanting, equal spaces distant, and one, two, or three 
spaces high on the ruled slate. 

360. Many primary teachers use the method of writing letters 
occasionally to their pupils and having them reply. For this pur- 
pose a "letter-box " should be kept on the teacher's table. 

361. That of letter-writing. It is strange that a branch of learn- 
ing so eminently practical and so indispensable to every one as 
this, should be almost entirely unknown as a " factor '' in our 
common schools. It is the duty of the teacher to instruct in the 
superscription of the envelope, the correct placing of the stamp, 
the address, heading and closing terms of an ordinary epistle. The 
treatment of the " body " of the letter is a matter of composition, 
grammar, and rhetoric. Every year the mails are disgorged of 
thousands of letters containing thousands of dollars' worth of prop- 
erty that find their way to the Dead Letter Office from a lack of 



I04 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

the simple knowledge that could readily and easily be conveyed to 
the writer. 

362. Not having to hold pen or pencil prevents the nervous 
grasp of the fingers, so difficult for pupils to overcome. Writing 
with the fingers in the air, as a calisthenic writing-drill, is being 
brought into practice, and is advocated by some able educators. 
The use of the crayon at the blackboard, is an agreeable substi- 
tute for the pen. 

363. Those teachers who would give their pupils a good free- 
hand writing must use some other means than the copy book. 
The discarding of copy books is not to be advocated, but supple- 
mentary exercises should be given, to teach freedom of movement 
and give character to individual work. 



DRAWING. 

364. The development of observation, culture, and the training 
of the eye and hand. Primary children may be taught to draw the 
simpler geometric forms, as they are practically by the arrange- 
ment of sticks on their desks or the teacher's table. 

365. Objects that exist or are to be made. By its means we 
express ideas that can not be represented in any other way. The 
most practical instruction is that which requires pupils to first ob- 
serve objects, and afterward express what they have observed by 
drawing directly from objects. 

366. Primary teachers can make excellent use of this creative 
exercise, which not only aids in interesting the child and develops 
its " possibilities," but also helps to a solution of the growing 
demand of the day for a practical education and industrial train- 
ing. 

367. Copying, which must necessarily be the first step, is often 
a thoughtless imitation of the result of other people's observation. 
Experience has shown that fiat copying alone does not give pupils 
the power of expressing freely their own ideas; so that, while use- 
ful in certain directions, copying should be practiced to a limited 
extent. If it is impossible to introduce a set of drawing-books 
into the school, the teacher should purchase for his own use one or 
two drawing manuals, teach the pupils the laws of perspective, 
from the blackboard, and then require a drawing of the trees, 
houses, school-house, and objects of interest about their homes. 

368. Lying, as it does, at the foundation of excellence in indus- 
trial pursuits, it can not be too carefully taught. The best inter- 
ests of a free people demand that the daily work of the laborer 
?houl4 be considered in shaping the education of his children, 



Discipline, 105 

369. Yes; in degrees more or less advanced. It is not a " spe- 
cial gift "(though naturally, the artist-genius, like the poet, is born 
and not made), and this popular feeling should be removed from 
the belief of the young child. Their work must be inspected 
and commented upon, and in this there is demand for consummate 
skill. 

370. One hour a week, which may be divided into two lessons 
of one-half hour each, or a still smaller division of time. The 
length of time spent on any lesson is a matter for the teacher 
to determine, remembering that it is not wise to linger too long on 
the elementary ones, as they may be further practiced at leisure 
moments. Pupils should be forbidden to measure, to rule, to 
erase lines, except in mechanical drawings. Pencils should be 
kept in good order; the position of the body, the drawing-book or 
slate, the holding of the pencil or crayon, should all be regulated 
by instruction from the teacher. 

371. Practice ofte7i on the blackboard and have the pupils work 
simultaneously. Desire perfection, but do not expect it; at least, 
not more than in writing, of which industrial drawing is an 
extension. 

372. In the majority of the graded and high schools of the coun- 
try, the subject is merely mentioned in the course of study to 
which vague suggestions are sometimes added, but these are of 
little practical value to teachers, who, left without any intelligent 
idea of the object or aim of the instruction, do little or nothing 
with it. Even with the employment of special instructors, there 
is no fixed purpose or aim in the teaching, and the system or 
method is therefore changed as often as there is a change of 
teachers. 

373. Yes; the teacher of the ungraded school will find that from 
the effort to acquaint himself with this useful art, he can produce 
very pleasing and beneficial results. 



DISCIPLINE. 

374. To exclude that which is bad and unnecessary, so that 
that which is good and necessary may have proper attention. 

375. He should rely upon his ability to keep all the pupils 
pleasantly and profitably employed. If he succeeds in this, little 
more need be done to secure good order in the school-room. 

376. A school can not exist as a school without some kind of 
government, for it must either govern itself or be governed by a 
teacher. That teacher who succeeds in making a school govern 
itself has reached perfection in this line, 



io6 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

377. The pupil should be led to investigate and to think for 
himself — to be a self-instructor; so the government of a school 
should be a system of self-government, that the pupil's moral fac- 
ulties, or sense of right and wrong, may be developed by being 
called into use. The advantages of a self-supporting system are 
that the pupils are trained to a feeling of trust and responsibility 
from manly and honorable incentives, and not forced to proper 
conduct through fear of bodily punishment or excommunication. 
The disadvantage of such a system is that through inefficient ad- 
ministration, it sometimes leads to dissolute habits and lawless- 
ness. It is, however, Republican in principle, and should be 
cultivated. 

378. That a spirit of trustfulness and reasonable freedom is 
more favorable to good discipline than suspicion and rigid espion- 
age. 

379. What is the secret of school government? 

It lies almost wholly in the ability of the teacher to give every 
pupil something to do just suited to his capacity. This may 
seem at first sight very easy, but it is extremely difficult, and re- 
quires much study and great discernment on the part of the 
teacher. To assign exactly the same work to a class of twenty 
pupils is like furnishing the same diet to all the patients in a hos- 
pital, where there may be a dozen different diseases under treat- 
ment. A successful life usually results from the fact that the 
successful man found the right thing to do. 

380. That kindness must be accompanied hy Jlr7?mess. Say to 
the pupils only what you mean and keep your word. Check the 
first instances of disobedience. It is much easier to prevent an 
evil than to correct one. If a pupil of whom you are particularly 
fond presumes upon his familiarity and ventures to take liberties 
not in accordance with thorough discipline, reprove him. Do it 
with tact and he will finally admit the justice of your course. 
Never allow yourself to argue with a pupil on a question of duty; 
unquestioning obedience must be the rule. It is a fact that 
stern teachers never fail. 

381. By no means. It is generally admitted that the ideal 
teacher is a person of kindly disposition and generous sympathies, 
capable of understanding the feelings of his pupils and of appre- 
ciating the force of the temptations which cause them to disobey. 
It is only from a strict sense of duty that a teacher of this class 
makes use of harsh words or of any means of punishment. Nor 
can he even refuse to grant any trivial but improper liberties 
without a pang at sight of the displeasure which his arbitrary 
words have caused, until he learns by experience the necessity for 
thorough maintenance of just restrictions. 



Discipline. 107 

382. The teacher should remember that motives control chil- 
dren as well as "grown folks." Every boy has a motive for his 
conduct, and it often seems that that motive is to annoy the 
teacher. If the teacher has sufficient self-control to ignore the ap- 
pearance of being annoyed, the boy finds that he has had his 
trouble for nothing. If, in addition to this, the teacher can get 
the other pupils to note his failure to annoy, much has been 
gained. 

383. Suitable buildings, freedom from over-crowding, good 
lighting and ventilation, suitable desks and benches, sufficiency 
of means for isolating classes, good organization, and a well-con- 
structed order of exercises. These tend to greatly facilitate and 
promote discipline, but they are not absolutely indispensible, for 
"good order" has been maintained under the most disadvanta- 
geous circumstances. 

384. It is a fact that they will derive more benefit from well- 
devised educational games to which they do attend, than from 
formal instruction to which they do not attend. It was the great 
merit of Frcebel, the founder of the Kindergarten, that he took the 
pains to ascertain what the primitive natural instincts of children 
are, and that he devised means by which those instincts might be 
utilized for the purpose of education. 

385. No, never; do not use language which implies that your 
pupils will desire to violate the orders you give. Threats, so far 
from inspiring dread, sometimes tempt bold natures to commit 
the deed which is prohibited. Besides, constant threats are in- 
compatible with that natural affection and confidence which ought 
to exist between the teacher and his pupils. 

386. No. The mistake should not be made of asking your 
pupils pointedly to obey yoti}- laws, because you as teacher make 
them. Better have no published laws, or "rules," as they are 
more frequently called; but, as occasion demands, appeal to the 
reasonableness of those other higher laws that will include any 
petty enactments of your own, as the greater always includes the 
less. Regulations there should be, but not ''rules.'' 

387. The chief objection is that it holds out such strong temp- 
tation to report incorrectly that the majority of pupils are not able 
to resist it; hence, a habit of untruthfulness is formed. Again, it 
is inconsistent, showing a lack of the teacher's interest, duty, and 
attention. 

388. A teacher wearing a new dress, governs more easily than 
when the dress is threadbare. In a school with new furniture, 
clean floors, and good walls, days, weeks, and even months, elapse 
without one word of reproof from the teachers. The influence of 



io8 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

cleanliness upon the order of a school is undeniable, and we all 
instinctively behave ourselves in the presence of beauty. 

389. The question of tact is such an all-important factor in all 
the operations of the school-room that we can not forbear frequent 
reference to this most desirable quality. The following anecdote 
will illustrate its use in one special case: " George was told that 
he would not be allowed to leave the school-room until he had 
spelled the word correctly. A fiendish look, which the teacher 
was not slow to comprehend, arose upon his face, as he said to a 
companion, * I'll keep her here all night !' A night in a country 
school-house, with a vicious boy, was not an agreeable subject for 
contemplation, and the folly of making such a rash threat was 
apparent. The teacher therefore put her wits to work to gain by 
strategy what she knew could never be obtained by force. Recess 
passed with the boy in his seat. Just before closing, the teacher 
proposed that all should choose sides. The sides were chosen, 
and, in the excitement of spelling down, our contumacious boy 
fell into the trap set for him by his wily instructor. Watching for 
a moment of preoccupation on his part, she gave him the word 
fawn. ' F-a-w-n,' spelled he, in a distinct voice. The laugh that 
went round the class convinced him that his hour of triumph was 
over." 

390. Similarly, in the case of a lai^ge girl who had been obsti- 
nate, disobedient, and saucy, the teacher, after lecturing her in 
tones of courteous sarcasm — he had a most excellent use of lan- 
guage — in such a manner that he won the entire good-will of the 
remainder of the school, and, consequently, a feeling of opposition 
to the girl, bade her take her books, stand up, and then leave the 
room. The evident disapprobation of her companions had com- 
pletely humbled her, and she showed no hesitation in obeying the 
last command. Accompanying her to the door, the teacher 
mildly intimated that neither her parents nor relations would be 
allowed to interfere in the matter. Meeting her a few days after, 
purposely, he spoke to her kindly and asked her to return. The 
girl burst into tears, acknowledged her error, came back to school, 
and was the model pupil ever afterward. 

Prompt, energetic action, in whatever device the teacher may 
use, is the only absolute rule for the disposition of ** hard cases." 

391. That of Humor. As the good order and quiet work of 
some schools is due to the orderly march to and from the play- 
ground, so this feature of a teacher's character will aid him greatly, 
for he that can turn a good-natured laugh on a refractory boy, 
will secure his obedience far more safely than by punishing him. 
How can this quality be acquired? With some, naturally, it is in- 
nate, and may be further cultivated ; but this rnuch one can do— 



Discipline. 109 

keep on the look-out for everything humorous that will illustrate 
the ordinary work of the school-room. 

392. To win the good-will of a bad boy is to permit him to do 
you favors. It shows him that you have confidence in him and 
can trust him. In some cases, and under certain restrictions, he 
may be invested with the power of hearing a class recite. The 
bad boy is very apt to have confidence in himself, and will make 
an especial effort to retain your confidence in him. It increases his 
self-respect when vested with authority. 

393. The personality of the teacher ; voice, manner, and a 
friendly expression. This is the side of allurement or attraction. 
The other side is the stately, imposing, and dignified bearing, by 
which the master can impersonate authority and be a standing re- 
minder to the evil disposed of the flock. It is seldom given to one 
man or woman to display both attitudes in their highest force ; 
but wherever, and to whatever extent they can be assumed, they 
constitute a barrier to disaffection and remiseness. 

394. He should remember that any prominent displays of swag" 
ger and self-conceit operate against his influence, and incite efforts 
to take him down. Much of course depends upon tad; meaning 
by that, a lively and wakeful sense of everything that is going on. 
Disorder is the sure sequel of the teacher's failure in sight or hear- 
ing ; but even with the senses good there may be absent the watch- 
ful employment of them. This is itself a natural incapacity for 
the work of teaching ; a teacher must not merely be sensitive to 
incipient and marked disorder, but he must read the result of his 
teaching in the pupil's eyes. 

395. That quietness of manner that comes not of feebleness, but 
of restraint and coUectedness, passing easily into energy when re- 
quired. To be fussy and flurried is to infect the class with the same 
qualities. The teacher must know that any mistake, miscarriage, 
or false step on his part is for the moment fatal to his ascendency. 
Such things wzV/ happen, and they render undue assumption all the 
more perilous. 

396. By two sorts of pupils ; those that have no natural liking for 
the subject, and those that are too far behind to understand the teach- 
ing. In a perfectly arranged school — rara avis — both sorts would be 
excluded from the class ; but in our district schools, and those in 
town of but three or four grades, such is the condition, and such 
it will ever be, and the teacher should accept this known difficulty 
from the beginning. 

397. That the first requisite to successful teaching is ability to 
govern a school. If a school is well taught, good order necessa- 
rily follows. But a teacher, well armed, may have good external 
order, and do no good teaching. Such order is not " Heaven's 



no Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

first law.'* The more perfect the order in a badly-taught school, 
the worse it is for the pupils. Perfect silence, unbroken stillness, 
are not in themselves desirable for young children, however nec- 
essary for good school-work. Giggling and tittering should be for- 
bidden as unbecoming, but a genuine hearty laugh, indulged in by 
both teacher and pupils, for a proper reason, may be repeated often 
with the best results. 

398. The seats of individuals of a class will be determined by 
considerations not always to be made public. In designating seats 
or grades, do it kindly, yet with the understanding that you know 
best what is to be done. Sometimes they may be seated so as to 
make a regular gradation of height for appearance's sake, pro- 
vided no more important principle is sacrificed. Sometimes 
the unruly ones are placed in front, as a punishment. The 
privilege of choosing seats may be allowed, with the un- 
derstanding that retaining them depends on behavior. Rank 
in class, degrees of cleanliness, known habits, all have a bear- 
ing upon this arrangement, which is fully illustrated in Buckham's 
Helps for Young I'eachers. 

399. By displaying those characteristics that gain their good will. 
The average boy admires decision. It suggests power, and he is 
a great worshipper of power. For weakness, either mental or 
physical, he has only contempt. He also admires courage, and 
he hates sham, or cant, or pretence. When he detects these in his 
teacher, they color all the teacher's actions. He has a well-defined 
code of honor which must be respected, and he admires rigid dis- 
cipline when it is reasonably enforced. 

400. This great point is to be remembered— and it may be re- 
garded as a maxim — that you should commence on the first day, 
just as you determine to have the term. Any sign of weakness by 
you is so much more to be overcome. The poise and self-control 
of the teacher, and the concentration of many minds, control those 
who are inclined to be restless and inattentive, by a well-known 
psychological law. 

401. Human nature. Many a boy has a "bad name" simply 
because of the rapidly developing faculties within him that are seek- 
ing employment. Juvenile depravity is not the depth of wicked- 
ness. Mischief is not meanness ; it is misdirected energy. The 
force of temptation and impulse overcomes his own choice and 
power of resistance ; while the imprudence, ill-temper, or reckless 
haste of the teacher sometimes prompts him to make an example 
of such an unlooked-for infraction, lest advantage be taken of it to 
overthrow good order. 

402. It is two-fold, viz. : School vices must be prevented or 
cured, and school virtues must be cultivated. Among school vices. 



Discipline. iii 

as ihey have been classified, are idleness, whispering, disorderly 
movements in the school-room, injury to property, and rudeness 
of speech or act, in the intercourse of every day life. The school 
virtues to be cultivated are suggested as the opposite of these ; 
regularity of attendance, promptness, obedience, truthfulness, dil- 
igence, kindness, neatness, and thoroughness in the preparation 
and recitation of lessons ; and these are to be secured, not only to 
promote the business of the school-room, but also for their influence 
in forming habits and character. 

403. That of temperaments, and the point which soon impresses 
itself on a teacher's mind is that there is a vast difference between 
the character as well as the abilities of pupils. He learns to 
classify them according to their several characteristics. Thus one 
class will consist of the slow but sure, the naturally serious, pos- 
sessing Httle enthusiasm, but an indomitable will; another will be 
composed of the bright and interesting boys who dash at their 
work with Celtic spirit, but who are the more easily daunted and 
require the more tender care. One type of boy has an innate 
love of real advancement; the ambition of another is to make a 
show in the world, to shine in society, to lead a butterfly exist- 
ence. Some boys are almost consumed with a passion for produc- 
ing sport; they are the clowns of the school-room; to their minds 
nothing is so important as a joke. Now, the teacher who sets his 
mind on eradicating any of these peculiarities must proceed with 
extreme caution lest he go too far. It is much easier to destroy 
than to build up; and very often a boy's peculiarities are in them- 
selves harmless, though they may require modification and some- 
times restraint. 

404. It is afforded by the fact that young and inexperienced 
teachers find so ready and so general employment. The wise and 
effective government of the school is really a delicate and difficult 
work. For, consider how few are the accessible guides to the 
successful accomplishment of that work; how subtle and often 
profound are the principles embraced in its philosophy; how 
varied and perplexing must be its practical adjustment; how 
manifold the diflSculties to be encountered; and how sad may be 
the results of failure to govern wisely and w^ell. 

405. Never show any partiality toward a pupil or set of pupils. 
It creates dissatisfaction and tends to the destruction of good 
government. Impartiality on the part of the teacher is one great 
help in securing discipline. Partiality is discriminality or showing 
favor without or against just reasons. But discriminality, or 
showing favor for wise and sufficient reasons, although often thus 
stigmatized, is no partiality; it is rectitude. Teachers who gain 
a reputation for being "no respecter of persons," in the sense of 



1 1 2 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

having no favorites, are universally liked, especially in ihe country 
districts. 

406. Stupidity, stolidity, inaptitude for special studies, vicious 
tendencies, rudeness, and indolence. The special treatment of 
these must be a remedy devised by the teacher, guided by the 
time and circumstance. The habit of obedience should take the 
first place in the school. Many teachers of morality, unfortu- 
nately, destroy the good effects of judicious counsel by too much 
talk, as a chemical precipitate is re-dissolvent in an excess of the 
precipitating agent. You must interest your pupils. The law of 
activity governs this. It is to be remembered that like the ancients 
we must teach virtue as well as smartness. No good education 
can be based on mere intellectuality. 

407. I. Neglect to furnish each pupil plenty of suitable seat 
work. 

2. Make commands that you do not or can not have exe- 
cuted. Occasionally, make a demand with which it will be im- 
possible to comply. 

3. Be frivolous and joke pupils to such an extent that they will 
be forced to *' talk back." This will *' break the ice" and they will 
soon learn to be impertinent in earnest. Or, be so cold and formal 
as to repel them. 

4. Allow pupils to find out that they can annoy you. 

5. Promise more in your pleasant moods than you can perform, 
and threaten more in your **blue spells" than you intend to 
perform. 

6. Be so variable in your moods that what was allow^able yes- 
terday will be criminal to-day, or vice versa, 

7. Be overbearing to one class of pupils and obsequious to an- 
other class. 

8. Utterly ignore the little formalities and courtesies of life in 
the treatment of your pupils in school and elsewhere. 

9. Consider the body, mind and soul of a child utterly unworthy 
of study and care. 

10. Ignore what may be called the ''tools" of the school-room. 
Neglect your blackboard, dispense with maps, charts, globe, and 
dictionary. Above all, keep music away. Let the work as laid 
out, be one perpetual "grind," so that your pupils shall dread to 
enter school, and long to get out of it. Be to them simply a task- 
master, without sympathy or warmth, or consideration. 

You will soon lose control, and if the trustee is fit for his place, 
you will soon after lose your school. 

408. I. Be suspicious of all their motives. When they ask any 
favor of you, don't grant it on any account, lest some of them 
might possibly abuse their privilege 



Discipline, 113 

2. When fighting occurs among your pupils, punish all engaged 
in it with equal severity — the timid boy who was forced into it, in 
self-defence, as severely as the lubberly school-yard bully who 
picked the fight for the avowed purpose of whipping him. Give 
them to understand, in this practical way, that they have no rights 
which the district ruffian is bound to respect. This rule is of 
special importance and must be observed. 

3. Never seem to believe a pupil unless you know his statements 
to be true. Regard all as liars, and you will soon succeed in 
making many of them so. It adds also to the importance and 
dignity of your position to be able to call your pupils liars, on any 
occasion, without fear of their resenting the insult. 

4. When requests are sent you from parents, no matter how 
reasonable they may be, don't grant them if you can avoid it. 
Take occasion, in this connection, to say something disrespectful 
of parents in general and of this one in particular. Give the 
children to understand, that for good and sufficient reasons, you 
have suspended the old Jewish rule — " Honor thy father and thy 
mother." Nothing adds so much to your importance to the eyes 
of your school as to be able to disregard the wishes of their parents. 

5. Be constantly on the watch to find something in your pupil's 
personal peculiarities that you can ridicule. Remarks in regard 
to their nationality, the color of their hair, their size, or their 
personal appearance are especially witty. You can well afford to 
wound the feelings of the child for the sake of the boisterous 
laughter it will cause among the others. It should be further 
stated, in this connection, that mental defects of every kind are 
your lawful prey. Such playful remarks as that you can not 
supply this, that and the other pupils with haitts, or that the 
trouble with the one is simply absence of mind, is a species of wit 
peculiarly brilliant. 

409. Tardiness in coming to school is frequently the fault of 
the parent. The non-preparation of home-lessons is usually the 
result of an injudicious mode of instruction pursued by the 
teacher, and here the simplest remedy is to change the teacher. 
In our city schools, these difficulties are settled by rules and regu- 
lations by which the pupil is suspended, or "dropped," or re- 
tained in the same grade for the following year. 

410. Tardiness is an evil, but, in many cases, improper means 
are employed to abate it. To count off a per cent, from the 
scholarship is wrong; so is a roll of dishonor. Some little device 
will often reach young children. Have a "warning bell." One 
teacher had a drum brought in on Friday, and all who had been 
present and not tardy (unless upon good excuse), were allowed to 
march and sing, carrying a banner. It was an effective "resort." 



114 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

A grade losing the least time in minutes during the month, 
has been presented with a chromo to hang on the school-room 
wall. The name of the class was written on it, and thus it became 
a standing record. 

411. As far as the pupils are concerned, by making the school- 
room pleasant and attractive, as any teacher of tact and ability 
should know how to do. 

412. It is sometimes customary to recompense tardy pupils in 
khid, that is, to detain them at the close of the school for a suffi- 
cient time to exact an adequate recompense; but this principle is 
wrong, and it reacts on the teacher. It is better to have your 
opening exercises of such an interesting and enlivening character, 
that the pupil will feel the loss by not being at school in time. 

413. When teachers complain of the general listlessness and 
stupidity of their classes, let them beware lest the cause of such 
widespread indifference may lie in themselves, and not in their 
pupils. Every lesson should be discontinued as soon as the pupils 
show signs of weariness, otherwise the attention will flag, and 
that class will have received one lesson in indifference to school 
work. 

414. The adult intellect is sharper than that of a child. The 
teacher's will-power is, or should be, better disciplined, and, 
therefore, more forceful; but rarely should he attempt to hammer 
down the mere brute will of a pupil by his own stronger will. 
Neither should he use that form of the doubtful method called 
** coaxing," which consists in gratifying some of the whims of the 
child for the purpose of getting him to yield the point at issue. 
** Coax" him, if you must, but let it be of that better sort that 
leads him without his knowing it. 

415. As previously stated, that of human nature. Stubborn- 
ness frequently arises from an awkward bashfulness, especially in 
the case with some overgrown boys of backward knowledge when 
called upon to recite, and this feeling they attempt to hide under 
a mask of lawlessness and vulgarity. The pupil should be excused 
before he or the rest of the school imagine the concession to be 

# anything else than courtesy on the part of the teacher. Talk to 
him in private; give him a few minutes extra for a private recita- 
tion at first; have him do you some personal favor; do anything 
that will arouse in him any latent element of goodness he may 
possess. Bashfulness and mental warp are two of the most com- 
mon causes of " mulishness" in a pupil. 

416. " Make the child think well of himself." We do not mean 
by this to develop any affectation or conceit, but self-confidence in 
the best sense, confidence in his mental possibilities, moral hero- 



Discipline. 115 

ism, and qualities of disposition. Some teachers seem to enjoy 
" taking the child down," as though a great point had been gained 
when the self-esteem was taken out of him. Life has enough in 
it, from boyhood to the grave, to weaken a man's confidence in 
everything, most of all in himself. 

417. They may be classified as follows : {a) Those who are 
brutal at home; (b) those who can never see any good in anybody; 
{c) the would-be autocrats (of the village and country districts); 
{d) the busy-bodies and gossips; {e) those who dislike the teacher; 
(/) those who are envious of the teacher; {g) those who never 
visit the school. 

418. In a private school the principal has the authority of a 
contract, implied by the placing of the pupil under his charge, to 
manage his own school in his own way. The parties to the con- 
tract are parent, or guardian and principal, the latter acting in loco 
parentis during the pleasure of the parent. Public School Laws 
are the authority for Public Schools. 

419. Endeavor to make your school the centre of civility, po- 
liteness, and good manners. The true teacher employs the forms 
of the beautiful, day by day, in training the child. By ornament- 
ing the school-room with pictures and mottoes, and by tasteful 
dress, she exercises a silent but untold influence upon the pupil. 
There is no limit to the civilizing influence of a gentle woman or 
gentle man in a school. 

420. Idleness and lack of proper interest in studies, with want 
of respect for the teacher. The remote but chief cause, is usually 
in home training. 

421. The grand object is directly, the sustaining of law, and, 
through that, the ultimate preservation of the common welfare. 
Subordinate objects would be the reformation of the pupil pun- 
ished, and the prevention, through the motives of shame or fear, 
of a repetition of the offense on his part, or that of any other pupil 
of the school. 

422. There are occasions, undoubtedly, when it is necessary to 
have recourse to force, but it is a mistake to whip for disciplinary 
purposes merely. Whipping should be used as a reformatory 
agent, only. The teacher who resorts to its frequent use as a 
means of securing discipline is either excessively lazy or weak. 
He can have very little tact or will-power. The following princi- 
ple embodies the experience of all who have given the question a 
fair trial : " Much whipping, bad order; little whipping, good 
order; least whipping, best order." 

423. It is a mistake to punish without explanation, for, as pun- 
ishment is a judicial act, it should be administered judicially. A 



ii6 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

boy has the right to know why he receives punishment before it is 
inflicted. If the teacheF does not take the trouble to give him this 
explanation in a perfectly candid manner, he gives the pupil just 
cause for regarding him as a petty tyrant, who punishes merely 
for the personal gratification it affords him. 

424. When he punishes him in an angry manner, so that it may 
be considered assault and battery. 

425. To punish children for trifling offenses, continually, at 
home, or in school, has a bad effect. It is confusing to a child, 
and does not tend to make distinctions between right and wrong 
which do exist, but does between those which do not. Strictness 
alone is not the means to preserve good order. A too frequent 
infliction of punishment is prejudicial to good order; it must be 
inflicted at the right time and in the right manner. 

426. The teacher should not strive to crush' the manhood of the 
child, but create in it the firm resolve to do the right and discard 
the wrong. A rigid espionage deadens laudable emulation ; and 
suspension, in many cases, is a hardening instead of a reforma- 
tory measure. Tell him he is expected to conform to the require- 
rnents of the room as a matter of justice to the school ; that he 
wrongs the school by his disobedience and does himself no good. 
If he is still maliciously disposed, a sound thrashing has frequently 
been a curative agent. But the teacher of tact ?/^z'^r whips. He 
may make such a display of his own muscular powers on the 
school play-ground as will deter the pupil from any overt act for fear 
of corporal punishment. Sometimes giving the boy a " new sensa- 
tion" will stop him in his attempts at evil. We have known a 
hard character to be ruled by the eye and gesture of a teacher, 
who never addressed a word of admonishment to him. 

427. In the various ways previously enumerated, of cleanliness, 
brightness, color, the personality of teacher, etc., but the lead- 
ing way is to interest the pupils and keep them busy. A mild 
form of punishment is sometimes more effective than harsher 
means. For instance, if the pupil has tried to disturb the well- 
being of the school by deceit in any form, it is logical that he can 
be so seated that he can not conceal books or papers, and so that 
the teacher can overlook him at all times. If the front seats be 
too low for him, and uncomfortable, that is an accident whose in- 
convenience he must endure. But to place him in a seat which 
was low and uncomfortable, simply that he might be thereby 
inconvenienced, would be wrong. 

428. Objects. — The reformation of wrong-doers; the warning of 
those who are in danger of becoming wrong-doers; and the mani- 
festation of the teacher's disapprobation of the act. 



Discipline. 117 

Piinciplcs. — That punishments should invariably follow offenses; 
that all offenses should be punished in proportion to their magni- 
tude; that each class of offenses should have its own kind of 
punishment; that all punishments are connected to offenses as 
effects to causes. — Wicker sham's School Econo7?iy^ pp. 252-254. 

If a pupil is tardy, it is illogical to pull his ears, and it would 
have no logical connection with the offense, to whip his hands, 
for wasting his time during the study hour. 

Improper Methods. — Those that from their nature excite in the 
pupil a feeling that an indignity has been committed against his 
person, and these imply in the inflictor a love of prolonged torture. 

Proper Methods. — ** Kind reproofs; loss of privileges; restraint 
or confinement ; humiliation ; imposition of a task ; and actual 
chastisement with the rod." — Page's llieory a7td Practice , pp. 179- 

193. 

A teacher should never resort to such personal indignities as 
pulling the hair or snapping the ears of a pupil, because it is brutal 
and endangers the life and health of the child. He should never 
apply such epithets as " stupid," "clown," *' liar," etc., because it 
is not only ungentlemanly and coarse, but gives evidence of a 
brutal nature on his part. Goverti zvithoiit ivhipping. 

429. It should be practical and plain. A pupil has done wrong 
and needs reproof. It is necessary to convince him of his error, 
to show him the grounds on which he has rendered himself culpa- 
ble. The teacher knows these grounds and proceeds to state 
them, but he repeats his statements. In his desire to impress upon 
the child's mind the truth, he destroys all the effect by making his 
exposition too perfect. He needed only a few bold statements 
clearly and incisively put. He receives instead a confused and 
blurred impression with the life all " finished out." 

430. One important function of the principal in a large school is 
to preserve the continuity of moral training. A serious difficulty 
is encountered in character-training by the rapid transfer of 
classes. No child is permitted to remain more than one year 
under a single teacher, and, in some graded schools, the children 
are taught by a succession of instructors, each dealing with a sin- 
gle topic. Now, permanency of impression and continuity of in- 
struction are absolutely essential to success in moral discipline 
everywhere. This permanent influence in a large school can only 
be found in the principal. The head teacher, man or woman, 
should be selected with special view to fitness of manhood or 
womanhood; should have time granted to become known to every 
pupil, and to make a characteristic moral influence felt in every 
department. In this way every child, through several years, may 
be brought under the wise and equable influence of a worthy 



ii8 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

friend, and the impression thus made may last through life. Of 
all teachers, the principal of the house should be selected with 
special reference to rharacter-building in the school. Here is one 
great advantage of the country district or ungraded school, in the 
unity of moral impression; an advantage which often more than 
compensates for the embarrassment of imperfect grading and the 
mental disadvantage therefrom. 

431. The teacher's example; for he teaches as much by that, if 
not more, than by precept. The teacher's life should be pure; his 
character above reproach. 

ATTENTION. 

432. Attention is holding the mind to one thing, to the exclu- 
sion of everything else. Adults can and must compel attention 
to what they are doing, and so can children in a lesser degree. 
All school-work can not be made attractive, any more than dish- 
washing can be made fascinating. The power to control one's at- 
tention is the result of education. We are taught to control our 
attention by that grim, stern teacher — experience. We meet with 
accident or failure in work and naturally say, "There! that will 
teach me to mind what I am doing." 

433. The first requisite in securing attention is to have every 
pupil assume a proper attitude ; erect, easy, and with eyes fixed 
on the teacher. Everything that is within reach of the hand, and 
that is calculated to divert attention, should be put aside. Loung- 
ing, and a listless attitude and manner, should not be permitted. 
Should the members of the class generally, be interested in some- 
thing foreign to the lesson, like a game in which they have been 
engaged, a story that has just been told, or an interesting piece of 
news, the teacher should seek to turn their thoughts into a new 
channel by some anecdote or pleasantry, which will gradually 
lead to the work on hand. 

434. When once secured, the teacher may keep it by thoroughly 
understanding the subject ; must know how to adapt this instruc- 
tion to the condition of the pupil ; and he must be able to present 
the subject in such an interesting manner that the mind will be 
constantly stimulated to reach out for new ideas. The new ideas 
to be presented must be related to those which the pupil already 
possesses, and not so far in advance but that these relations may 
be readily discovered. A good share of that uncommon com- 
modity, common-sense, the possession of tact, and a strong per- 
sonality, are aids to the instructor in solving this problem of the 
school-room, for he who fails to secure the attention of his pupils, 
fails utterly and completely. 



Attention. 119 

435. The following excellent rules concerning questioning a 
class, have special reference to securing attention : 

" Do not ask questions in rotation." 

'*Do not point to the pupil you wish to answer, while giv- 
ing the question." 

**Do not even look fixedly at the pupil whom you wish to an- 
swer, while giving the question." 

** State question to the class as a whole. Ask one member for 
the answer." 

**Do not wait an instant for the answer, when reviewing most 
subjects." 

" Do not look steadily at the pupil who is answering." 

*' Do not 7'epeat a question to oblige those who are inattentive." 

*' Be sure to ask questions of those who are in \\v^ slightest degree 
inattentive.'^ 

436. If he is worried by listless pupils, let him ask himself the 
honest question : " If I taught better, would not my class attend ta 
my teaching?" It is difficult work to give continuous, undivided 
attention, and the successful and wise teacher will never continue 
the strain longer than it can be secured, by awakening a healthful 
interest in the subjects under consideration. 

437. Teachers who possess it, generally govern well. They 
exert a power which magnetizes the pupils. To teach well, means 
power to secure attention and study. The pupils catch the enthu- 
siasfn of the teacher. Cheerful, earnest work makes it easy to 
maintain order. Unfortunately, enthusiastic teachers sometimes 
become absorbed in teaching, and neglect the other conditions of 
success. 

438. The teacher that expects to have attention in the recita- 
tion, simply because he commands, because he has authority, will 
not have it long. He must obtain it and hold it by his power to 
please, to instruct, to inspire, to move, and not by a command. 

439. By telling the child something which pays him for 
giving attention. By giving information in such a manner that 
the pupil will count it worth his hearing. Awaken his sympathy 
with the subject, and he will give earnest attention. Excite curi- 
osity in the mind, and cheerful, earnest attention follows. 

440. By demanding it as a right. By begging it as a great 
favor. By scolding the pupil for not giving it. It can not be 
secured by threats. Hearing the lesson rather than attempting to 
teach it, will not be likely to gain attention. Reading the lesson 
from a book will not fasten the mind upon it. Presenting a con- 
fused combination of ideas will prevent the attention of the pupil. 
-Endeavoring to teach truths which the pupils can not comprehend, 



I20 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

will not secure his attention. Attention is not to be gained by 
special indulgence, or by rewards. 

441. The ability to solicit and exact the absolute attention of 
the pupil. It is pre-eminently essential as a means of success. 
To secure it by solicitation, which means asking for it indirectly, 
by awakening the child's mind to desire that which will come from 
close attention, is the highest art. 

442. There will always be some whose inactivity of mind, in- 
dolence of nature, and indifference to the proprieties of life make 
it too great a tax upon the teacher to attempt to win their atten- 
tion. Of such, she must quietly but firmly exact as close attention 
as may be reasonably expected of them. There is a false senti- 
ment that would lay upon the teacher the duty of winning every 
child, a thing as impracticable as to run a government without 
laws, courts, or penitentiaries. 

443. See that your pupils take no privileges of any kind with- 
out your permission. Grant no requests during the progress of a 
recitation. Confine the business of answering general questions, 
leaving seats, getting drinks, leaving the room, to the time imme- 
diately before dismissing the class ; and then allow one or two 
minutes. Give pupils to understand that the recitation time 
belongs exclusively to the class, and teach them the virtue of 
self-denial and endurance. Do not dismiss a class until you have 
assigned the next lesson, and be sure that all understand the as- 
signment. Govern your school with kindness, but with firmness. 
Allow no running, scuffling, or romping in the school-room. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

444. Kindly, and in a way to secure their confidence and esteem. 
Rarey, the horse-tamer, could show many teachers how to do this. 
Let the pupil understand just what is expected of him, and from 
him, and why it is expected. 

445. The teacher should be in the district several days before 
the opening. If he is an old teacher in the district, he will have 
abundant work to do in advising with his old pupils as to their 
studies, and in arousing a thorough interest in the coming session. 
Let him not rest his success on former work and merits. Each 
term, as well as each day, must depend on its own merits. 

446. Naturally, these remarks refer entirely to the work of the 
district school. In cities, the new teachers make the acquaintance 
of their pupils on the first day of school. It is not considered 
necessary or desirable that they should do more than receive pre- 
vious suggestions from the principal or superintendent, or both. 
But, in the country, the teacher should get acquainted with some of 



Miscellaneous. 1 2 1 

his patrons and with some of his pupils, should learn the history 
of his school, but should not be influenced by any gossip he may 
hear. The majority of the common schools, according to the evi- 
dence of the community, have a "hard name." Preparatory to 
the opening day, he should know just what classes his predecessor 
had, how far advanced, should see specimens of their written 
work, if possible, and know the methods of teaching and govern- 
ing, and the statistics left him by his predecessor. If he can 
secure a meeting of the patrons and the directors during the first 
month (or previous to the commencement of the school, even), and 
explain his "intentions," it will have a good effect. 

447. To be "on hand " in time. One motive to check tardiness 
is that of the practice of the teacher. He has no right to ever be 
late or absent. He should begin work promptly, call the school 
to order with but little noise, establish order at once, by the man- 
ner in which he acts himself and by his manner of moving the 
school. Place a few problems in arithmetic on the blackboard for 
solution, and copies for slate work, before the opening hour. 
Keep the pupils engaged all the time and keep them interested in 
their work. Your school should be in full "running order" the 
first day of school. Under favorable conditions, teaching a coun- 
try school is to be preferred to any graded or high school work in 
this country. 

448. They may be varied by using any or all of the following, 
frequently changing the order of exercises: i. Singing of hymn. 
2. Responses. 3. Lord's prayer in concert. 4. Song. The 
responses may be, especially in primary grades, alternately the 
" Beatitudes," or appropriate selections taken from the Bible, or 
gems of children's poetry, written upon the blackboard, copied 
and committed by the pupils. The teaching of moral precepts, in 
any manner, must be wholly unsectarian. 

449. The time should be so divided as to do justice to all; the 
times of day which different branches may best be studied; differ- 
ent grades should alternate in recitations. The programe should 
be written on the blackboard the first day of school, and that space 
wholly for its use. It should be varied occasionally to prevent 
any feeling of monotony, and its use and purpose should be ex- 
plained by the teacher in the five or ten minutes' " talk" with 
which he opens the school. In this talk, do not refer to " rules 
and regulations." Simply state that you desire to have a " good" 
school and expect their assistance. 

450. It gives system and order to the work of the school, and 
enables pupils to prepare their lessons at the proper time. Pupils 
will then have no excuse for a lack of preparation for the recita- 
tion. 



122 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

451. That all studies should have their proportionate share of 
attention, and that provision must be made for the frequency of 
recitations. Studies to be prepared in school must not be recited 
among the first. In general, it will be found most convenient to 
prepare all mathematical work in school. Classes in arithmetic 
should not, therefore, be among the first to recite in the morning. 
The first recitations of the day should be either the lessons pre- 
pared at home in the evening or the classes in reading or spelling, 
alternating. The school day should not close with severe mental 
labor. Classes in penmanship, drawing, spelling, or vocal music 
should end the day's work. Class exercises needing steady nerves, 
such as writing or drawing, ought not to follow a recess or any 
time of physical exertion. The programme must also provide a 
time for *' General Business." 

452. They are Examination, Instruction, and Cultivation. By 
the first, the teacher finds out what the pupils know, and is then 
better able to assign future lessons, or impart instruction. The 
pupil also gains strength and fixes in his mind what he has 
learned. By the second, the pupil receives information imparted 
by the teacher or other pupils. The third includes the other two, 
and also such other criticisms as the teacher and other pupils may 
give, and the benefit derived from class drills and from written 
work. 

453. I. A brief reproduction of the preceding lessons. 2. A 
brief review of the preceding lesson. 3. Rehearsal and critical 
examination of the daily lesson. 4. Recapitulation of the daily 
lesson. 5. Adequate preparation for the advanced lesson. 

454. To develop individuality; to ericourage originality; to cul- 
tivate self-reliance and self-possession; to cultivate sentiments of 
justice, kindness, forbearance, and courtesy; that the development 
and the growth of the pupils, physically, intellectually, and 
morally, may be carefully nurtured, and bravely prepare them for 
life's service. 

455. That teachers have too many recitations. We have seen 
"model programmes" that allotted a recitation for every five 
minutes in the day. The principle is wholly wrong. It is not 
uncommon for the teacher of a country school to have twenty-five 
or thirty recitations per day, and frequently a school has as many 
classes as it has pupils. No teacher can do justice to a class of 
the larger pupils in less than half an hour's time. If the older 
pupils desire to study history, physiology, algebra, book-keeping, 
etc., it will be better to teach only half the advanced branches at 
a time. Teach history and algebra for two months, or half the 
term, and then the other studies for the remainder of the time, 



Miscellaneous. 123 

456. That of conducting two recitations at the same time by 
giving questions or work to each class alternately. The added 
confusion and the division of the teacher's attention makes this 
plan of questionable benefit. It is but little better to leave one 
class in the charge of a pupil, for the confusion will exist to a still 
greater degree, and the work of the assistant's class will generally 
be poorly done. To alternate classes on different succeeding 
days, time may be gained for the recitations, but interest in the 
studies is lost between " times." 

457. That of throwing any intermediate grade into one set of 
** general exercises'* as often as possible. Occasionally, the reci- 
tation of a certain study may be omitted from the day's work 
with good effect. With primary pupils, necessarily, the recitations 
should be short and frequent. But when there are twenty or 
thirty classes for one teacher to hear, the work will necessarily be 
done in a very superficial manner. Ai?n to have as feiv classes as 
possible and to place each pupil just where he belongs. Do not be 
arbitrary about it. Show them the necessity of such classification 
and arrangement. 

458. No; heretical as such an avowal may appear, there is a 
truth in it that needs emphasis. There will be little progress, 
mental development, or real breadth where the chief aim is a per- 
fect recitation in the ordinary acceptation of the term. It is high 
art to know how to read rapidly, selecting that which is profitable 
and desirable. Successful teaching appreciates the necessities of 
the class, collectively and individually, training them to select the 
valuable from the valueless. In the cry for thoroughness, we have 
certainly neglected some other important considerations. For- 
tunately, the average teacher is not " troubled " with these perfect 
recitations. 

459. Unless the teacher is perfectly familiar with the lesson and 
its bearing, so far as they ought to be presented to the class, and 
beyond that, he should make special preparation for each recita- 
tion; because to teach a lesson well, one should know much more 
of it than the lesson contains. He ought to have a reserve fund 
of information upon it. A teacher should be so well prepared 
with each lesson, that were he called upon to recite it, he would be 
able to do so better than the best pupil in the class. 

460. Yes; he should invariably have it thought out before the 
class appears. Yet, the presence of the class, the development of 
matters at the very outset or during the progress of the recitation, 
may suggest a radical change, and very much for the better. This 
he does not fail to adopt, though prepared for something else. 
Thorough preparation is the foundation of all genius. 



124 Qtiestions in the Art of Teaching. 

461. The principle is to use the text-book as little as possible. 
It would be better, were it possible, to use no book at all during 
recitation. The text-book hampers the teacher in proportion to 
his dependence upon it. Still, most teachers have neither the time 
nor the talent to memorize everything they have to communicate, 
and there is, therefore, to be some use made of helps, in the shape 
of text-books, or their equivalents. It is difficult to make a gen- 
eral rule on the subject, but the text-book may be used by the 
teacher during recitation in those branches in which it is necessary 
for the exact words of the text to be repeated by the teacher, or 
pupil — the reading lesson, for instance. Above all, teachers 
should be accurate, and therefore, while the use of the text-book 
should be reduced to the minimum, it should be at hand for an 
emergency. 

462. No; with the exception of the arithmetic (and its use 
should be reduced to the minimum), no text-book should be 
allowed within reach of the pupil while reciting. It is better even, 
to read the problems of the day's lesson to the individual pupil, 
but time does not always allow this. 

463. Those that require a mere echo of some statement just 
made by the teacher. The same evil attends all tasks committed 
to memory, if not intelligently prepared; a slovenly preparation 
for a repetition lesson of poetry familiarizes the mind with a 
careless habit of using words that are partly or altogether misun- 
derstood. 

464. Those that require a selection of the mind of a child, i. 
Of clear ideas. 2. Of clear and concise language. He should see 
that the answers are expressed, if the age of the child permits, in 
a full grammatical sentence. He must be patient with answers 
that are imperfect both in form and in idea, or incorrect, gram- 
matically; the other members of the class will correct them; if the 
ideas are nearly correct, disentangle the truth from the error; but 
do not be led into digressions by discussions of answers that are in 
great measure incorrect. Do not require an answer in any paiti- 
cular formula of words; homely words, familiar to the children, 
will represent their ideas most forcibly. 

465. I. It compels all to get the whole lesson, since no one can 
know how much he will be called upon to recite, or when, or 
where. 2. It checks any disposition on the part of the pupil to be 
inattentive, since each one is liable, at any moment, to be called 
upon to recite. 

466. The advantages are, (i) that it is useful in awakening an 
''interest in class and in school; (2) that it aids those who may be 

too timid otherwise to recite, to overcome their diffidence; (3) that 
it gives all an opportunity to recite the whole or the greater part 



Miscellaneous. 125 

of the lesson In the same time; (4) that it offers the best opportun- 
ity to secure uniformity, and to cultivate the voice. The disad- 
vantages are, (i) that it offers an opportunity to any that do not 
knov^^ the lesson very well, to attach themselves to those that do 
and thereby appear to better advantage than they really deserve; 
(2) that it affords an opportunity to those who may desire to con- 
ceal mistakes, intentional deviations and ignorance, to effect their 
purpose; (3) that it has a tendency to cultivate an unnatural and 
monotonous style; (4) that it destroys the pupil's independence by 
taking away his individuality. 

467. Quite the opposite extreme from the concert method is that 
which, for convenience, may be called by this name, but the only 
advantage claimed for this method is, that the individual laggard 
can not screen his deficiencies, as he can when reciting in concert. 
His own individual knowledge, or ignorance, stands out. This is 
clear, and so far it is an advantage. But ascertaining what a pupil 
knows of a lesson, is only one end, and that by no means the most 
important end of a recitation. 

468. Taps of the bell may be used to have the class rise, march 
and take position, or be seated. The following has been sug- 
gested: 

Teacher counts '^one," (class rises) "two," (class passes). 
Class should be seated by motion of hand. For dismissal, the 
teacher should use same signals, and have the next class rise and 
come forward as the first retires. For the counts, the teacher may 
substitute the tap of the call bell. Never na7ne the class, then com 
maud it to take its place. Be exactly on time with your signals. 

Some of the best schools visited, call classes thus: Teacher taps 
(once) on desk, class rises; teacher waves hand, (once), class moves 
to the recitation; teacher moves hand downward, (once) class 
sits. 

469. The interested occupation of the pupils in their own 
studies, 

470. He who thinks himself a good teacher because he possesses 
such power of control over his pupils that he can hold them at all 
times in a " solemn stillness," but who fails in methods of instruc- 
tion and in arousing in their young hearts a love of knowledge and 
a high purpose in life, makes a w^oeful mistake. 

471. The usual way is to have a rule against it, and a penalty, 
but this is a wrong principle. Noise and study are incompatible. 
Explain this to the pupils, and enlist their aid in the matter. 
Cause them to know that you Jivant to make the room pleasant; 
that you do not want them to be troubled and harassed by others 
interrupting them. You may ask them to go without whispering 
for a half hour, or hour, and at the end of that time ascertain who 



126 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

have done so. Or you may have a period set apart for speaking, 
by having a large card marked "Study Hour" on one side, and 
" Needful Speech '' on the other. At the end of each hour, turn 
this card. 

472. Keep an eye on the noisy ones and give them separate 
seats, not so much as a punishment as to prevent their troubling 
others. Keep a record of those who whisper much, and class 
them as ** disorderly,'' and lower their standing for good behavior. 
Detain those who are noisy, and try to influence them by a kind 
personal talk. Appoint some of these as monitors. Give extra 
employment to those who seem to have time to whisper. 

473. He should readily recognize the difference in the conduct 
of those who whisper about their studies, and those who whisper 
about mischief. Quietness can pervade the school-room without 
that repressed feeling that comes from arbitrary rule and the fear 
of severe punishment. 

474. If whispering is constant and general during school-hours, 
the teacher is to blame. If only a few whisper, they are the so- 
called chatter-boxes who can not refrain during the lessons from 
sharing their thoughts and observations with their neighbors. A 
lack of employment is the general, prevailing cause. 

475. If whispering prevails in the whole class, or in certain reci- 
tations, the teacher's method is not suitable. He goes on too 
slowly or too quickly, speaks monotonously or too rapidly, is too 
" wordy " or expresses himself in phrases which the children do 
not understand. Then he should direct his attention to himself 
and correct the faults in his method of teaching. He should not 
pay attention to a few pupils — usually the best — and neglect the 
others. 

476. The idea should not be entertained for a moment in the 
district school. There, the recess will always be a justifiable neces- 
sity. In several of our larger cities, notably in those of New York 
State, the no-recess plan is working with admirable results, 
according to the testimony of superintendents and principals. Its 
use has been universally advocated upon the following grounds: 
(i) That recesses are filled with moral danger to pupils; (2) that 
they weaken the discipline of the school. To this its opponents 
reply, that in every well-disciplined school the opportunities for 
vicious contamination are almost absolutely nil; and that if any 
mischief should result from the association of pupils, it is far more 
likely to arise from their being out together between recesses, 
when their actions can not be observed by their teachers; and again 
that if children were sent to school for the sole purpose of their 
being kept still — a thought not entertained by any rational educator 
— the second argument might have some weight; but quietness is 



Miscellaneous. 127 

in no way desirable except in so far as it contributes to the success 
of this work. It is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. 
A certain degree of quietness must be had, or the main purpose of 
the school must fail. And the well-being of the child's physical 
nature is not to be overlooked. As means of ventilation in nine 
cases out of ten are utterly inadequate, the pupil can only obtain 
pure air in out-door exercise. 

477. Dr. J. Baldwin, with a few remarks upon each, advances 
the following list, which teachers may enlarge upon to an un- 
limited extent: 

I. Know thoroughly what you would teach. 

II. Secure attention by sustaining interest. 

III. Use language which your pupils understand. 

IV. Proceed from the known to the unknown by easy steps. 

V. Lead your pupils to find out by themselves. 

VI. Manage to have the pupils re-state, in their own language, 
the truths taught, giving their own illustrations and proofs. 

VII. I^eview, Review, REVIEW 

478. Should " Friday afternoon " exercises be given ? 
Undoubtedly ! Make them the happiest half-days of the week. 

With this object and that of instruction in view, success will surely 
follow. Pupils may be led to do much work under the impression 
that they are playing. Among the many things that you may do, 
the following are presented as examples : 

(i) Have a pronunciation test. Prepare and place upon the 
blackboard at least ten words commonly mispronounced. Do this 
soon enough to enable the earnest pupils to consult the dictionary. 
(2) Devote twenty minutes to "spelling down," using a list of 
words commonly misspelled. (3) Have a chart or map exercise. 
(4) Read a short sketch, and have pupils reproduce the thought 
orally or in writing. (5) Let each pupil give a sentiment from a 
standard author. If possible, induce the pupil to develop the 
thought in his sentiment. (6) Place " queer queries " on the board 
for investigation. Do this a week in advance. It will stimulate 
investigation. Parents will grow interested. (7) Give a practical 
lesson in civil government. (8) Conduct an exercise in false 
syntax, (g) Ask for recitations of poetry and prose of genuine 
literary merit from older pupils. (10) Have declamations. Some 
if not all of these can be used in any school. 

479. Schools in the larger towns and cities have a regular music 
teacher who gives lessons in vocal culture (and frequently addition- 
ally, in instrumental music), but, in the ungraded school, the 
children can be taught by following the '*air"as sung by the 
teacher, the w^ords first being written on the blackboard and 
copied by the pupils. 



128 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

480. Yes; the teacher with the *' poorest voice " can interest 
the children and arouse their enthusiasm until they will, of their 
own accord, "make music." Simple airs can be taught small 
children with but little difficulty. 

481. A pupil should be drilled on exercises to give him complete 
mastery over the pitch of his voice. First, he should practice 
singing the diatonic scale. Second, he should be required to give 
the elementary sounds on different degrees of the scale, begin- 
ning at a low pitch and ascending gradually as high as he can 
speak with ease, and then gradually descending to the lowest 
pitch. Third, he should be required to repeat sentences on differ- 
ent degrees of the scale and to read selections which require 
variety of pitch. Such a drill will enrich the voice and give him 
complete command over its pitch in reading or speaking. This 
should be followed by drills in musical exercises from any good 
text-book. 

482. Where there is such an opportunity, instead of a general 
dismissal, the teacher may proceed as follows, saying: '* I will 
dismiss in the class (i) those who have seemed to be successful 
in managing themselves ; they may stand — George, Frank, etc., 
etc." After these (2) ^' those who seem to me to be moderately 
successful ; they may stand — Henry, Jennie, etc." Finally (3) 
** those who have had the least success ; these may stand, James, 
Maggie, etc." Then dismiss these. 

483. Before a teacher can set about his professional work intel- 
ligently, and with assurance of success, he must not only compre- 
hend its technical details, but he should also have a broad and 
comprehensive knowledge of the general objects of education, and 
the means by which these are to be accomplished. That is, 
proper professional preparation includes a thorough study of the 
branches to be taught, the faculties of the mind to be developed, 
and methods of teaching. 

484. The results are the same as all that come from uncon- 
scious tuition. His habits should be those of a gentleman, and 
the better breeding he maintains, in just such a degree will the 
manners of his pupils be improved. The story of the city teacher 
who always carried his hands deeply buried in his pantaloon 
pockets and was faithfully copied by every boy in the school, con- 
veys a moral worth heeding. 

485. {a) Honesty, industry, generosity, kindness, politeness, 
and economy. {U) Because the possession of these qualities 
makes a true man or woman. As the influence of home and of 
general society is much greater than that of the school, the 
teacher can be held responsible for the results only so far as his 
own influence extends. If that influence, both directly and indi- 



Miscellaneous. 129 

rectly, has always been in favor of the highest moral excellence, 
no blame can attach to him if other and adverse influences, over 
which he has no control, have proved stronger than his own. 

486. By practice, precept, and the use of kind words. A kind 
word costs nothing, yet its influence may last through a life-time. 
Years after the speaker has forgotten it, or the occasion upon 
which it was spoken, the hearer will feel the result of the encour- 
agement it gave him, the difficulty it smoothed, or the sorrow it 
comforted. Politeness in children and young people is one of the 
most winning and graceful attributes. Il is a mistaken idea to fancy 
rudeness a token of manliness or bravery. Bayard, one of the 
bravest of Cavaliers, sa^is peur et sans reproche, was one of the 
most finished gentlemen mentioned in history. 

487. Yes ; there has been some difliculty in finding a practical 
means of teaching it in the common or graded schools, but one or 
two manuals, lately published, have removed this source of incon- 
venience. A knowledge of the subject promotes habits of hon- 
esty, economy, and thrift. Pupils should have this much technical 
education at least. Many of them will never have the opportunity 
of attending a commercial college, and the rudiments of the 
science can easily and readily be taught in the public school. 

488. If the ordinary recitations will not permit of its being 
included in the daily programme, the school can be dismissed a 
few minutes earlier, two or three times a week, and the teacher 
remain with this special class fifteen or twenty minutes later than 
the usual hour of dismissal. Such a plan has been used to great 
advantage. 

489. In place of the regular recitation in reading, some morning, 
the teacher may recite to the pupils some exercise, either in prose 
or verse. This should be a well-chosen article, something new 
to the pupils, and which they are sure to appreciate. Or, he may 
prepare, privately, one of his ablest pupils to give it, and on a 
dull morning when the lessons seem so familiar to the class that 
it is almost " hum-drum," he may surprise them by asking this 
pupil to recite for them the exercise previously prepared in private. 
Little surprises of this sort are a source of delight to young and 
old. 

490. It is the display of irregular work of a few pupils at the 
expense of all the regular work of all the pupils, or usually it is an 
oral rhetorical display by a school in which no rhetorical instruc- 
tion is given. Virtually, it is an attempt upon the part of the 
teacher to gain credit for the school by displaying what the school 
does not do as a school, and by ignoring all that it does do. 

491. The exposition, which is an exhibition, by systematic 
arrangement, of the regular work of every pupil of every class in 



130 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

such manner and place as will enable every patron to examine it, 
at leisure, and easily gain therefrom, reasonably correct informa- 
tion as to the ability and progress of every child in every class, 
the capabilities of children at different ages, the degree of advance- 
ment which they may reach, the different kinds of work and 
manner of working of different grades, the comparative ability of 
different teachers and pupils, and the distinctive methods of each. 

492. Just so far that he may know how to go about the prepa- 
tion of it in a proper way. If the lesson is unusually difficult, it is 
proper for the teacher to point out the difficulties and suggest their 
solution, but no more. Pupils should be taught that the lesson is 
a trial of their strength, and that to fail is to acknowledge defeat, 
but that to succeed is to score a victory. It is thought, too, that 
by helping pupils to any great extent, they come to distrust their 
own ability, and this, in many cases, is disheartentng and enervat- 
ing. 

493. Nothing seems at first sight more pleasing or more natural 
than for pupils to give presents to their teachers, but some objec- 
tions maybe offered to the practice. 

A careless pupil, from an opulent home, is permitted to make a 
handsome subscription, when the " paper" is started, involving 
not the slightest self-sacrifice. A good pupil, the child of poor 
parents, who, perhaps, honors the teacher far more than the rich 
man's son, is obliged to refuse the smallest contribution. This is 
embarrassing to the pupil and, perhaps, mortifying to the teacher, 
who may not know the true reason. The teacher v/ields some- 
thing more than the kindly authority of a parent. He is a judge. 
It is his duty, at times, to try causes and pronounce sentence. 
He keeps the record ; he confers honor ; he inflicts penalty. 
There is danger, therefore, of a gift having the appearance andsome 
of the effect of a bribe. If the teacher is about leaving the school, 
there can be no objection to his accepting a parting gift. When a 
pupil leaves, there could be no great harm in leaving behind him 
tokens of his gratitude and affection to those who have instructed 
him. Again, it is the most ** popular" teacher who is likely to re- 
ceive the presents, and while he is not necesarily the " best", it is 
liable to hurt the feelings of his associates. Altogether, the giving 
of presents is a doubtful good and of doubtful propriety. 

494. There seems to be a popular demand for a practical educa- 
tion, and the result has been the establishment of schools of tech- 
nology and creative education. Several workingmen's schools are 
in successful operation in various parts of the United States. It is 
stated that the applications from rich men to get their sons places 
in these schools are very numerous, but they are generally excluded, 



Miscellaneous. 131 

as it is desired that the experiment in this method of instruction 
shall be tried first with the children of the poor. 

495- ^^ inquire into the fitness of a pupil to be advanced into a 
higher grade ; to determine if he has that maturity of mental pow- 
ers which will enable him to pursue successfully the studies of the 
advanced grade. 

496. Too many pupils, poor classification, a lack of information 
on the part of directors and parents relative to the aim and in- 
tent of our free school system, low wages, too many young and 
inefficient teachers, and a w^ant of cooperation between parents and 
teachers. 

497. In the hands of most teachers, and as generally practiced, 
the systems of offering prizes in schools do much more harm than 
good. If, however, pupils can be made to understand that prizes are 
merely the tangible representation of the real reward, and to value 
them accordingly ; if the prizes can be made so numerous that the 
merits of all can thus be rewarded, and the requisite care be taken 
that the value of each prize be in proportion to the positive merit 
of the one who receives it, nearly all the objections in their use 
would be removed, and they might become an auxiliary in the 
work of inciting pupils to study. The principle of giving prizes 
as rewards is not wrong, but it has been wrongly applied. With 
judicious application, its use is safe. 

498. Those of doubtful propriety are prizes ; merit-marks ; 
emulation; fear of punishment; shame and ridicule. Proper in- 
centives are the approbation of teachers, parents and friends ; the 
attainment of an honorable position in the school ; the pleasure 
of overcoming difficulties ; the gratification of curiosity ; the de- 
sire of knowledge ; the hope of success ; and the satisfaction of 
doing right. 

499. Both directors (or trustees) and teachers often take a nar- 
row and improper view of each other, and of the relation they 
sustain to one another. The director is not the mere hirer — the 
task master — of the teacher, one appointed to get as much work 
for as little pay as possible. He is the agent of the parents of the 
pupils, selected for the express purpose of obtaining the best in- 
structor for those pupils which the common means will compass, 
and of extending all reasonable and proper facilities to the in- 
structor, in the discharge of his duties, which the circumstances 
render necessary. 

500. The teacher is neither the servant of the directors, nor is 
he one whose chief object is to give as little service and get as 
much money as possible. He is the member of a high and most 
responsible profession; selected to discharge duties of the utmost 
importance to the community; and entitled, if those duties be 



132 Questions in the Art of Teaching. 

properly discharged, to a consideration and to a recompense, of 
which his salary is the smallest, though an indispensable portion. 
Teachers frequently demand improved and increased facilities for 
teaching, such as maps, blackboards, apparatus; and are not al- 
ways successful. In such cases, it is neither politic nor just to 
exhibit temper, nor to denounce the trustees or board of education. 
It may be that it is not parsimony, but an honest want of knowl- 
edge of the use and necessity of the improvement, which forms 
the objection. True, the teacher is the best judge, and his opinion 
should be decisive; but matters are not always as they should be. 
A little management will effect the object. The use of a tempo- 
rary expedient, the employment of a little ingenuity, will do more 
than impatience or hard language. 



ADDENDA. 

MANUAL TRAINING. 

501. Educating through the use of the hand. 

502. To educate the whole being; to cause the brain, eye, and 
hand to work in unison, thereby producing the highest type of 
man. It also affords an opportunity to the student of discovering 
his profession or ascertaining his natural inclinations before 
reaching manhood; it also tends to fit for life's duties. 

503. A greater interest has been exhibited in school work; it 
has*produced students of a more practical turn. Skill in the use 
of tools has been acquired by uniting the school, the laboratory, 
and the shop. 

504 In giving prominence to drawing, in giving actual prac- 
tice in making and using apparatus, and in the care and use of 
tools. It may omit some of the usual studies, such as ancient and 
foreign languages, and belles lettres. 

505. A manual training school does not teach trades. Its aim 
is to give a knowledge of things and the uses to which they may 
be pui, and thus lay a foundation for many trades. But at the 
same time it looks to intellectual discipline, to be derived from 
this study of things and tools. 

506. Yes, we believe it is, where it has been intelligently tried. 
Europe is unanimous in its favor. It has produced an increasing 
interest in manufacturing pursuits, and is rapidly making a con- 
stantly-growing class of superior intelligent mechanics. How to 
make it a part of our public school system is the question of the 
day. 



Books for Teachers. 



=INDU5TRIAL. 
^EDUCATION^ 



Laves Industrial Education. 

Industrial Education ; a guide to Manual Training. By 
Samuel G. Love, principal of the Jamestown, (N. Y.) 
public schools. Cloth, 12nio, 330 pp. with 40 full-page 
plates containing nearly 400 figures. Price, $1.75 ; to 
teachers, $1.40 ; by mail, 12 cents extra. 
1. Industrial Education not understood. Probably the only 
man who has wrought out the problem in a practical way is 

Samuel G. Love, tKe superin- 
tendent of the Jamestown (N. 
Y.) schools. Mr. Love has now 
about 2,400 children in the 
primary, advanced, and high 
schools under his charge ; he 
is assisted by fifty teachers, so 
that an admirable opportunity 
was offered. In 1874 (about 
fourteen years ago) Mr. Love 
began his experiment ; gradu- 
ally he introduced one occu- 
pation, and then another, u^til 
at last nearly all the pupils are 
following some form of educat- 
ing work. 

2. Why it is demanded. The 
reasons for introducing it are 
clearly stated by Mr. Love. It 
was done because the educa- 
tion of the books left the pu. 
pils imfitted to meet the prac- 
tical problems the world asks them to solve. The world does 
not have a field ready for the student in book-lore. The state- 
ments of Mr. Love should be carefully read. 

3. It is an educational book. Any one can give some 
formal work to girls and boys. What has been needed has 
been some one who could find out what is suited to the little 
child who is in the *' First Reader," to the one who is in the 
*' Second Reader," and so on. It must be remembered the 
effort is not to make carpenters, and type-setters, and dress- 
makers of boys and girls, but to educate them by these occupor 
tions better than tvithout them^ 




•LOVE' 



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4. It tells the teacher just what to do. Every teacher should 
put some form of Manual Training into his school. At pres- 
ent the only ones are Gymnastics, Writing, and Drawing. 
But there are, it is estimated, more than thirty forms of 
Industrial Work that may be made educative. The teacher 
who studies this book will want to try some of these forms. 
He will find light on the subject. 

5. It must be noted that a demand now exists for men and 
women to give Industrial Training. Those teachers who are 
wise will begin now to study this important subject. The 
city of New York has decided to introduce it into its schools, 
where 140,000 pupils are gathered. It is a mighty undertak- 
ing, but it will succeed. The people see the need of a differ- 
ent education than that given by the books. Book education 
is faulty, partial, incomplete. But where are the men and 
women to come from who can give instruction ? Those who 
read this book and set to work to introduce its methods into 
their schools will be fitting themselves for higher positions. 

The Lutheran Observer says :— *' This volume on Manual Teaching 
ought to be speedily introduced into all the public schools. It is admir- 
ably adapted for its purpose and we recommend it to teachers every- 
where." 

The Nashville American says :— " This is a practical volume. It 
embodies the results of many years of trial in a search after those 
occupations that will educate in the true sense of the word. It is not a 
work dealing in theories or abstractions, but in methods and details, 
such as will help the teacher or parent selecting occupations for chil- 
dren." 

West Virginia School Journal.— '* It shows what can be done by a 

resolute and spirited teacher." 
Burlington Free Press.—" An excellent hand book." 
Prin. Sherman Williams, Glens Falls, N. Y.— **I am sure It will 

greatly aid the solution of this difficult problem." 

Prof. Edward Brooks, Late Principal Millersburg, (Pa.) Normal 
School.—" It is a much needed work; is the best book I have seen." 

Supt. S, T. Button, New Haven.— "The book is proof that some 
practical results have been reached and is full of promise for the 
future. 

Supt. John E. Bodley, Minneapolis.— *' I know of no one more com- 
petent to tell other superintendents and teachers how to introduce Man- 
ual Training than Prof. Love." 

Oil City Blizzard,—" The system he has marked out must be a good 
one, or he would never have allowed it to go out." 

Buffalo Times,—" Teachers are looking into this subject and this will 
help them." 

Voston Advertiser.— " A plain unvarnished explanation." 

Jamestown, N. Y. Evening Journal.- "In the hands of an intelligent 
teacher cann,ot fail to yield satisfactory results," 



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Curries Early Education. 

** The Principles and Practice of Early and Infant School 
Education." By James Currie, A. M., Prin. Church of 
Scotland Training College, Edinburgh. Author of 
** Common School Education," etc. With an introduction 
by Clarence E. Meleney, A. M., Supt. Schools, Paterson, 
N. J. Bound in blue cloth, gold, 16mo, 290 pp. Price, 
$1.25 ; to teachers, $i.oo ; by mail, 8 cents extra. 

WHY THIS BOOK IS VALUABLE. 

1. Pestalozzi gave New England its educational supremacy. 
The Pestalozzian wave struck this country more than forty 

years ago, and produced a mighty shock. It set New Eng- 
land to thinking. Horace Mann became eloquent to help on 
the change, and went up and down Massachusetts, urging in 
earnest tones the change proposed by the Swiss educator. 
What gave New England its educational supremacy was its 
reception of Pestalozzi's doctrines. Page, Philbrick, Barnard 
were all his disciples. 

2. It is the work of one of the best expounders of Pes- 
talozzi. 

Forty years ago there was an upheaval in education, Pes- 
talozzi's words were acting like yeast upon educators ; thou- 
sands had been to visit his schools at Yverdun, and on their 
return to their own lands had reported the wonderful scenes 
they had witnessed. Eev. James Currie comprehended the 
movement, and sought to introduce it. Grasping the ideas of 
this great teacher, he spread them in Scotland ; but that 
country was not elastic and receptive. Still, Mr. Currie's 
presentation of them wrought a great change, and he is to be 
reckoned as the most powerful exponent of the new ideas in 
Scotland. Hence this book, which contains them, must be 
considered as a treasure by the educator. 

3. This volume is really a Manual of Principles of Teaching. 
It exhibits enough of the principles to make the teacher 

intelUgent in her practice. Most manuals give details, but no 
foimdation principles. The first part laj^s a psychological 
basis — the only one there is for the teacher ; and this is done 
in a simple and concise way. He declares emphatically that 
teaching cannot be learned empirically. That is, that one can- 
not watch a teacher and see how he does it, and then, imitat- 
ing, claim to be a teacher. The principles must be learned, 

4. It is a Manual of Practice in Teaching. 



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It discusses the subjects of Number, Object Lessons, Color, 
Form, Geography, Singing, and Eeading in a mo^ intelligent 
manner. There is a world of valuable suggestions here for 
the teacher. 

5. It points out the characteristics of Lesson-Giving — or 
Good Teaching. 

The language of the teacher, the tone of voice, the question- 
ing needed, the sympathy with the class, the cheerfulness 
needed, the patience, the self-possession, the animation, the 
decorum, the discipliQe, are all discussed. This latter term is 
defined, and it needs to be, for most teachers use it to cover 
all reasons for doing — it is for ** discipline" they do every- 
thing. 

6. It discusses the motives to be used in teaching. 

Any one who can throw light here will be listened to ; Mr. 
Currie has done this admirably. He puts (1) Activity, (2) 
Love, (3) Social Relation, as the three main motives. Rewards 
and Punishments, Bribery, etc., are here well treated. The 
author was evidently a man '' ahead of his times ;" every- 
where we see the spirit of a humane man ; he is a lover of 
children, a student of childhood, a deep thinker on subjects 
that seem very easy to the pretentious pedagogue. 

7. The book has an admirable introduction. 

By Supt. Meleney, of Paterson, N. J., a disoiple of the New 
Education, and one of the most promising of the new style of 
educators that are coming to the front in these days. Taking 
it all together, it is a volume that well deserves wonderful 
popularity. 

Adopted by the Chautauqua Teachers' Beading Union. 

Philadelphia Teacher.—" It is a volume that every primary teacher 
should study." 

Boston Common School Education.—" It will prove a great boon to 
thousands of earnest teachers." 

Virginia Educational Journal.—" Mr. Currie has long been esteemed 
by educators." 

Central School Journal.-" Books like this cannot but hasten the 
day for a better valuation of childhood." 

North Carolina School Teacher.— "An interesting and timely book." 



FOR READING CIRCLES. 

** Payne's Lectures " is pre-eminently the book for Reading 
Circles. It has already been adopted by the New York, Ohio, 
Philadelphia, New Jersey, Illinois, Colorado, and Chautauqua 
Circles, besides many in counties and cities. Remember that 
our edition is far superior to any other published^ 



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Shaw's Rational Question Book. 

" The National Question Book." A graded course of study 
for those preparing to teach. By Edward R. Shaw, Prin- 
cipal of the High School, Yonkers, N. Y.; author of 
" School Devices," etc. Bound in durable English buckram 
cloth, with beautiful side-stamp. 12mo, 350 pp. Price, 
$1.50 ; net to teachers, postpaid. 

This work contains 6,000 Questions and Answers on 22 
Different Branches of Study. 

ITS DISTINGUISHING FEATURES. 

1. It aims to make the teacher a better teacher. 

'' How to Make Teaching a Profession" has challenged the 
attention of the wisest teacher. It is plain that to accompHsh 
this the teacher must pass from the stage of a knowledge of 
the rudiments, to the stage of somewhat extensive acquire- 
ment. There are steps in this movement ; if a teacher will 
take the first and see what the next is, he will probably go on 
to the next, and so on. One of the reasons why there has 
been no movement forward by those who have made this first 
fitep, is that there was nothing marked out as a second step. 

2. This book will show the teacher how to go forward. 

In the preface the course of 

study usually pursued in our 
best normal schools is given. 
This proposes four grades; 
third, second, first, and profes- 
sional. Then, questions are 
given appropriate for each of 
these grades. Answers follow 
each section. A teacher will 
use the book somewhat as fol- 
lows : — If he is in the third 
grade he will put the questions 
found in this book concerning 
numbers, geography, history, 
grammar, orthography, and 
theory and practice of teaching 
to hunself and get out the 
answer. Having done this he 
will go on to the other grades 
in a similar manner. In this 
way he will know as to his fit- 
iiess to pass an examination for 




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these grades. The selection of questions is a good one. 

3. It proposes questions concerning teaching itself. 

The need of studying the Art of Teaching is becoming more 
and more apparent. There are questions that will prove very 
suggestive and valuable on the Theory and Practice of Educa- 
tion. 

4. It is a general review of the common school and higher 
studies. 

Each department of questions is followed by department of 
answers on same subject, each question being nimabered, and 
answer having corresponding number. 

Arithmetic, 3d grade. English Literature, 1st grade. 

Geography, 2d and 3d grade. Natural Philosophy, " 

U. S. History, 2d and 3d grade. Algebra, professional grade. 

Grammar, 1st, 2d, and 3d grade. General History, profess, grade. 

Orthography and Orthoepy,3d grade. Geometry, 

Theory and Practice of Teaching, Latin, 

1st, 2d, and 3d grade. Zoology, 

Rhetoric and Composition, 2d grade, Astronomy, 

Physiology, 1st and 2d grade. Botany, 

Bookkeeping, 1st and 2d grade. Physics, 

Civil Government, 1st and 2d grade. Chemistry, 

Physical Geography, Ist grade. Geology, 

5. It is carefully graded into grades corresponding to those 
into which teachers are usually classed. 

It is important for a teacher to know what are appropriate 
questions to ask a third grade teacher, for example. Exam- 
iners of teachers, too, need to know what are appropriate 
questions. In fact, to put the examination of the teacher into 
a proper system is most important. 

6. Again, this book broadens the field, and will advance 
education. The second grade teacher, for example, is exam- 
ined in rhetoric and composition, physiology, book-keeping, 
and civil government, subjects usually omitted. The teacher 
who follows this book faithfully will become as near as possi- 
ble a normal school graduate. It is really a contribution to 
pedagogic progress. It points out to the teacher a road to 
professional fitness, 

7. It is a useful reference work for every teacher and priv- 
ate Hbrary. 

Every teacher needs a book to turn to for questions, for 
example, a history class. Time is precious ; he gives a pupil 
the book saying, ** Write five of those questions on the black- 
board ; the class may bring in answers to-mprrow." A book, 



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E, L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 7 

made on the broad principles this is, has numerous uses. 

8. Examiners of teachers will find it especially valuable. 
It represents the standard required in New York and the East 
generally for third, second, first, and state diploma grades. 
It will tend to make a uniform standard throughout the 
United States. 

WHAT IS SAID OF IT. 

A Great Help.— "It seems to be well adapted to the purposes lor 
wtiich it is prepared. It will undoubtedly be a great help to many 
teachers who are preparing* to pass an examination."— E. A. GtASTman, 
Supt. Schools, Decatur, lU. 

Very Suggestive.—"! consider it very suggestive. As a book for 
class-room use it can serve a very important object by this suggestive- 
ness, which is the peculiar quality of the book. Many of the qaiestions 
suggest others to the teacher, and thus open her mind to new aspects of 
the book she is teaching. Such questions aid pupils in looking up mat- 
ter which they have previously acquired, and yet supply the charm of 
novelty."— B. C. Gregory, Secretary of N. J. Reading Circle. 

Helpful to Young Teachers.—" It will prove a helpful book to young 
teachers who wish to review the studies which it treats."— T. M. Bai> 
LiET, Supt. Schools, Springfield, Mass. 

Well Fitted for its Purpose.—" I find it well fitted for its purpose in 
testing the acquaintance of students with the principles that govern the 
several departments of science and their application to special cases. I 
can see how a teacher can make good use of this book in his classes." — 
D. L. KiEHiiE, Supt. of Public Instruction, St. Paul, Minn. 

Without a Peer.—" It is without a peer."— J. M. Greenwood, Supt. 
Schools, Kansas City, Mo. 

Best for its Price.—" It is the best book for its price that I ever pur- 
chased."— Miss Eva Quigley, teacher at La Porte, Cal. 

Best of the Kind.— " It is decidedly the best book of the kind I ever 
examined."— D. G. Williams, Ex-Co. Supt. York County, Pa. 

Will Furnish Valuable Ideas.— "It presents a larger variety than 
usual of solid questions. Will repay very largely all efforts put forth 
by examiners and examined, and lead to better work in the several 
branches. The questions have been carefully studied. They are the 
result of thoughtful experience, and will furnish valuable ideas."— Chas. 
Jacobus, Supt. Schools, New Brunswick, N. J. 

J. H. Hoose, Prin. of the Cortland (N. T.) Normal School, says :— " It 
will be helpful to those persons who cannot enjoy an attendence upon 
courses of study in some good school." 

Hon. B. G. Northrup, of Connecticut, says:— "It is at once concise 
and comprehensive, stimu ati - g and instructive. These questions seem 
to show the young teacher what he d es not 'know and ought to know, 
and facilitates the acquisition of the desired knowledge." 

School Education (Minn.) says:— "Many a young teacher of good 
mind, whose opportunities have, been meagre, and who does not yet 
know how to study effectively in a scientific spirit, may be stimulated 
*to look up points, and to genuine progress in self -improvement by such 
a book as this. The questions are systematically arranged, worded with 
iudgment, and are accompanied by numerous analyses of various sub- 
jects," 



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Taynes Lectures on the Science and 

Art of Education. Reading Circle Edition. By Joseph 
Payne, the first Professor of the Science and Art of Edu- 
cation in the College of Preceptors, London, England. 
With portrait. 16mo, 350 pp., English cloth, with gold 
back stamp. Price, $1.00 ; to teachers, 80 cents ; by mail, 
7 cents extra. Elegant new edition from new plates. 

Teachers who are seeking to 
know the principles of education 
will find them clearly set forth in 
this volume. It must be remem- 
bered that principles are the basis 
upon which all methods of teach- 
ing must be founded. So valu- 
able is this book that if a teacher 
were to decide to own but three 
works on education, this would 
be one of them. This edition 
contains all of Mr. Payne's writ- 
ings that are in any other Ameri- 
can abridged edition, and is the 
only one with his portrait. It is 
far superior to any other edition 
published. 
Joseph Payne. 

WHY THIS EDITION IS THE BEST. 
(1.) The side-titles. These give the contents of the page. 
(2.) The analysis of each lecture, with reference to the educa- 
tional points in it. (3.) The general analysis pointing out the 
three great principles found at the beginning. (4.) The index, 
where, under such heads as Teaching, Education, The Child, 
the important utterances of Mr. Payne are set forth. (5.) 
Its handy shape, large type, fine paper, and press-work and 
tasteful binding. All of these features make this a most val- 
uable book. To obtain all these features in one edition, it 
was found necessary to get out this new edition. 

Ohio Educational Monthly,— "It does not deal with shadowy theories ; 
it is intensely practical." 

Philadelphia Educational News.— J' Ought to be in library of every 
prog:ressive teacher." 

Educational Courant.— '' To know how to teach, more if needed than 
a knowledg-e of the branches taught. This is especially vaiuable." 

Pennsylvania Journal of Education.— "Will be of practical value to 
Normal Schools and Institutes," 




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E. L. KELLOGG <Sb CO,, NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 11 

Sbaw and T)onneWs School "Devices. 

"School Devices." A book of ways and suggestions for 
teachers. By Edward K. Shaw and Webb Donnell, of the 
High School at Yonkers, N. Y. Illustrated. Dark-blue 
cloth binding, gold, 16mo, 224 pp. Price, $1.25 ; to teach- 
ers, $1.00 ; by mail, 9 cents extra. 
^A BOOK OF "WAYS" FOR TEACHERS..=^ 
Teaching is an art ; there are ** ways to do it." This book 
is made to point out ** ways," and to help by suggestions. 

1. It gives ** ways " for teaching Language, Grammar, Read- 
ing, Spelling, Geography, etc. These are in many cases 
novel ; they are designed to help attract the attention of the 
pupil. 

2. The " ways " given are not the questionable ** ways " so 
often seen practiced in school-rooms, but are in accord with 
the spirit of modem educational ideas. 

3. This book wiU afford practical a-ssistance to teachers who 
wish to keep their work from degenerating into mere routine. 
It gives them, in convenient form for constant use at the 
desk, a multitude of new ways in which to present old truths. 
The great enemy of the teacher is want of interest. Their 
methods do not attract attention. There is no teaching 
unless there is attention. The teacher is too apt to think 
there is but one "way "of teaching spelling; he thus falls 
into a rut. Now there are many '' ways " of teaching spell- 
ing, and some " ways " are better than others. Variety must 
exist in the school-room ; the authors of this volume deserve 
the thanks of the teachers for pointing out methods of obtain- 
ing variety without sacrificing the great end sought — scholar- 
ship. New *'ways" induce greater effort, and renewal of 
activity. 

4. The book gives the result of large actual experience in 
the school-room, and will meet the needs of thousands of 
teachers, by placing at their command that for which visits 
to other schools are made, institutes and associations 
attended, viz., new ideas and fresh and forceful ways of 
teaching. The devices given under Drawing and Physiology 
are of an eminently practical nature, and cannot fail to 
invest these subjects with new interest. The attempt has 
been made to present only devices of a practical character. 

5. The book suggests '' ways " to make teaching effective ; it 
is not simply a book of new '* ways," but of '' ways " that will 
produce good results. 



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12 E. L, KELLOGG <& CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

WHAT IT CONTAINS. 

*' Ways " of teaching- Language— Geography— Spelling—'Reading— 
Arithmetic — History — Physiology — Drawing— Penmanship— Personal 
Suggestions— School-Room Suggestions— Outside the School-Boom— 
Seat Work. The first chapter on Language contains : A Way to Prepare 
Pictures for Young Pui)ils— Supplying the Proper Word— A Language 
Lesson— Weekly Plan of Language Work for Lower Grammar Grades- 
Writing Ordinals— Correcting Bad English- For Beginners in Composi- 
tion—Word Developing— An Easy Exercise in Composition— Composi- 
tion from Pictures— Plan for Oral Composition— Debating Exercises- 
Language Drill in every Lesson— Letter Writing— Matter for Letters — 
Forms for Business Letters— Papers Written from Eecitation Notes- 
Equivalent Forms of Expression— Devices for Use of Capitals— Excerpts 
to Write Out from Memory— Regular Plan in Composition Writing— To 
Exercise the Imagination— Suggestions about Local Subjects for Com- 

Sositions— A Letter Written upon the Blackboard by all the Class— 
hoice of Words— Order of Criticism— A Plan for Rapid Correction of 
Compositions— To File and Hold Essays— Assigning a Subject for a Com- 
position—Character Sketches— Illustrative Syntax— A Talk on Language 
—A Grammar Lesson, Device for Building up the Conjugation of the 
Verb— The Infinitive Mood— ShaU and Will— Matter for a Talk on Words 
—Surnames. 

At the end of the volume is inserted a careful selection of Bible Read- 
ings for every school day of the year, with the pronunciation of diflB- 
cult words— a provision that will be appreciated by those who are 
obliged to hunt each morning for a proper selection for school devo- 
tions. 

Mr. E. R. Shav^, of the Yonkers High School, is well 
knovni, and Mr. Webb Donnell, of the East Machias (Me.) 
Academy, is a teacher of fine promise ; they have put together 
a great variety of suggestions that cannot fail to be of real 
service. 

Home and School.—" Is just the book for every teacher who wishes 
to be a better teacher." 
Educational Journal.—" It contains many valuable hints." 

Boston Journal of Education.— " It is the most humane, instructive, 
original educational work we have read in many a day." 

"Wis, Journal of Education.—" Commends itself at once by the num- 
ber of ingenious devices for securing order, industry, and interest." 

Iowa Central School Journal.—" Teachers will find it a helpful and 
suggestive book." 

Canada Educational Monthly. — " Valuable advice and useful sugges- 
tions." 

Normal Teacher.—" The author believes the way to manage is to civ^ 
ilize, cultivate, and refine." 

School Moderator.— " Contains a large amount of valuable rea(Mng. 

School government is admirably presented." 
Progressive Teacher.— "Should occupy an honored place in every 

teacher's library.' 
Ed. Courant.— " It will help the teacher greatly." 
Va, Ed. Journal. — " The author draws from a large experience." 
Country and Village Scb'^ols — " Cannot fail to be ger\dceable." 



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E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 13 

Parkers Talks on Teaching. 

Notes of " lalks on Teaching" given by Col. Francis W. 

Parker (formerly Superintendent of schools of Quincy, 

Mass.), before the Martha's Vineyard Institute, Summer 

of 1882. Reported by Lelia E. Patridge. Square 16mo, 

5x6 1-2 inches, 192 pp., laid paper, English cloth. Price, 

$1.25 ; to teachers, |1.00 ; by mail, 9 cents extra. 

The methods of teaching employed in the schools of Quincy, 

Mass. , were seen to be the methods of nature. As they were 

copied and explained, they awoke a great desire on the part 

of those who could not visit the schools to know the underly- 

iag principles. In other words. Colonel Parker was asked to 

explain why he had his teachers teach thus. In the summer 

of 1882, in response to requests. Colonel Parker gave a course 

of lectures before the Martha's Vineyard Institute, and these 

were reported by Miss Patridge, and published in this book. 

The book became famous ; 
more copies were sold of it in 
the same time than of any 
other educational book what- 
ever. The daily papers, which 
usually pass by such books 
with a mere mention, devoted 
columns to reviews of it. 

The following points will 
show why the teacher will 
want this book. 

1. It explains the ** New- 
Methods." There is a wide 
gulf between the new and the 
old education. Even school 
boards understand this. 

2. It gives the underlying 
principles of education. For it 

must be remembered that Col. Parker is not expounding Ms 
methods, but the methods of nature. 

^ 3. It gives the ideas of a man who is evidently an *' educa- 
tional genius," a man born to understand and expound educa- 
tion. We have few such ; they are worth everything to the 
human race. 

4. It gives a biography of Col. Parker. This will h^p the 
teacher of education to comprehend the man and his motives. 

5. It has been adopted by nearly every State Reading Circle. 




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14 E. L. KELLOGG <Sb CO,, NEW YORK & CHICAGO, 

The Indiana State Reading Circle alone have ordered 1500 
copies. Besides this, many County Reading Circles have 
adopted it. 

6. The new methods placed ** the Quincy schools from 
twelve to twenty-five per cent, above the average of the towns 
in the same comity." (This county is Norfolk — the one that 
Boston is in.) This is the statement of George A. Walton, of 
the Massachusetts Board of Education. 

7. The Quincy methods (according to Mr. George A. Wal- 
ton) are adopted wherever they are known, and where the 
teachers have the skill and permission to employ them. 

8. This book has created more interest in Europe than any 
other American book on education. 

Normal Teaclier. (Ind.)—" Probably no volume will attract the atten- 
tion of the teachers of this country so much as this." 

Journal of Education (Ya.)— "No teacher can read it without receiv- 
ing fresh ideas." 

The New England Journal of Education (July 12, '83), published 
a page criticism by Prof. Payne. When this met the eyo of Rev. A. D. 
Moyes, one of the editors, he wrote two pages of fervid approval and 
that influential paper became the friend of the New Education. " We 
recommend the book to every teacher." 

New York Teachers' Companion.— " The Colonel is a warrior; his 
battle cry is freedom of the teachers from ruts, rust, routine, and 
servile imitation." 

Philadelphia Teacher.— '* His greatness consists in his courageous 
application of the truth." 

Chicago Advance.—*' They (the * talks ') will be very helpful to 
teachers." 

Chicago Evening Journal.—" They constitute the best, most compre- 
hensive, and authoritative presentation of the Quincy schools." 

Chicago Daily News,—" Valuable materials for thought and study." 

Burlington Hawkeye.— "Wo arc pleased with the common sense 
and reasonableness of any principle laid down and methods recom- 
mended." 

Boston Commonwealth.—" Are of interest to all teachers." 

Troy Times.—" They are hints on which the intelligence of the teacher 
is left free to act." 

New York Trihune.—" Suggestive to instructors. The clear direc- 
tions for following the methods so brilliantly inaugurated at Quincy 
will be of interest to all students of pedagogy.'^ 

Philadelphia Ledger.— " Francis W. Parker holds what in some re- 
gards, is even a higher place than that of the Chief Executive, the great- 
est teacher and organizer of the common schools that this country now 
possesses." (From a long review.) 

Philadelphia Record.- ''Histalkis informal by knowledge; and his 
knowledge is booked by experience." 

The Moderator. (Michigan.)— In spite of all that has been published 
they constitute the best presentation of the Quincy method.' ' 



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Tatridges '" Quincy 0\4ethodsy 

The *' Quincy Methods," illustrated ; Pen photographs from 
the Quincy schools. By Lelia E. Patridge. Illustrated 
with a number of engravings, and two colored plates. 
Blue cloth, gilt, 12mo, 686 pp. Price, $1.75 ; to teachers, 
$1.40 ; by mail, 13 cents extra. 
When the schools of Quincy, Mass., became so famous 
under the superintendence of Col. Francis W. Parker, thou- 
sands of teachers visited them. Quincy became a sort of 
** educational Mecca," to the disgust of the routinists, whose 
schools were passed by. Those who went to study the 
methods pursued there were called on to tell what they had 
seen. Miss Patridge was one of those who visited the schools 
of Quincy ; in the Pennsylvania Institutes (many of which 
she conducted), she found the teachers were never tired of 
being told how things were done in Quincy. She revisited 
the schools several times, and wrote down what she saw ; then 
the book was made. 

1. This book presents the actual practice in the schools of 
Quincy. It is composed of ^' pen photographs." 

2. It gives abundant reasons for the great stir produced by 
the two words '' Quincy Methods." There are reasons for the 
discussion that has been going on among the teachers of late 
years. 

3. It gives an insight to principles underlying real educa- 
tion as distinguished from book learning. 

4. It shows the teacher not only what to do, but gives the 
way in which to do it. 

5. It impresses one with the spirit of the Quincy schools. 

6. It shows the teacher how to create an atmosphere of hap- 
piness, of busy work, and of progress. 

7. It shows the teacher how not to waste her time in worry- 
ing over disorder. 

8. It tells how to treat pupils with courtesy, and get cour- 
tesy back again. 

9. It presents four years of work, considering Number, 
Color, Direction, Dimension, Botany, Minerals, Form, Lan- 
guage, Writing, Pictures, Modelling, Drawing, Singing, 
Geography, Zoology, etc., etc. 

10. There are 686 pages; a large book devoted to the realities 
of school life, in realistic descriptive language. It is plain, 
real, not abstruse and uninteresting. 

11. It gives an insight into real education, the education 
urged by Pestalozzi, FrcBbel, Mann, Page, Parker, etc. 



6END Alili ORDERS TO 

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Tates Philosophy of Education. 

The Philosophy of Education. By T. Tate. Revised and 
Annotated by E. E. Sheeb, Ph.D., Principal of the Louis- 
iana State Normal School. Unique cloth binding, laid 
paper, 331 pp. Price, $1.50 ; to teachers, $1.20 ; by mail, 7 
cents extra. 
There are few books that deal with the Science of Educa- 
tion. This volume is the work of a man who said there were 
gieat principles at the bottom of the work of the despised 
schoolmaster. It has set many a teacher to thinking, and in 
its new form will set many more. 

Our edition will be found far superior to any other in every 
respect. The annotations of Mr. Sheib are invaluable. The 
more important part of the book are emphasized by leading 
the type. The type is clear, the size convenient, and print- 
ing, paper, and binding are most excellent. 

Mr. Philbrick so long superintendent of the Boston schools hold this 
work in high esteem. 

Col. F. W. Parker strongly recommends it. 

Jos. MacAlister, Supt. Public Schools, Philadelphia, says :— " It is one 
of the first books which a teacher deserves of understanding the scien- 
tific principles on which his work rests should study." 

S. A. Ellis . Supt. of Schools, Rochester N. Y. says :— " As a pointed and 
judicious statement of principles it has no superior." 

Tli03. M. Balliet, Supt. of Schools^ Reading. Pa., says :—" The work 
is a classic on Education." 

J. M, Greenwood, Supt. Schools, Kansas City, says :—" I wish every 
teacher of our country owned a copy and would read it carefully and 
thoughtfully." 

Prest. E. A. Sheldon, Oswego Normal Schools, says :—" For more 
than 20 years it has been our text-book m this subject and I know of no 
other book so good for the purpose." 

Bridgeport Standard.—" A new generation of thinkers will welcome 
it ; it has long held the first place in the field of labor which it illus- 
trates." 

S. W» Journal of Education.— "It deals with fundamental principles 
and shows how the best educational practice comes from them." 

The Interior.— " The book has long been held in high esteem by 
thoughtful teachers." 

Popular Educator.—" Has long held a high place among educational 
works." 

Illinois School Journal.— "It abounds in good things." 

Philadelphia Eecord.— " Has been ranked among educational classics 
for more than a quarter of a century." 

Educational News.—" Tate was the first to give us the maxims from 
the * known to the unknown ' etc." 



6Eirt) All orders 1:0 
E, L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 10 

FitcFs Lectures on Teacbing. 

Lectures on Teaching. By J. G. Fitch, M.A., one of Her 
Majesty's Inspectors of Schools. England. Cloth, 16mo, 
395 pp. Price, $1.25 ; to teachers y $1.00 ; by mail, postpaid. 

Mr. Fitch takes as his topic the application of principles to 
the art of teaching in schools. Here are no* vague and gen- 
eral propositions, but on every page we find the problems of 
the school-room discussed with definiteness of mental grip. 
No one who has read a single lecture by this eminent man 
but will desire to read another. The book is full of sugges- 
tions that lead to increased power. 

1. These lectures are highly prized in England. 

2. There is a valuable preface by Thos. Hunter, President 
of N. Y. City Normal CoUege. 

8. The volume has been at once adopted by several State 
Reading Circles. 

EXTRACT FROM AMERICAN PREFACE. 
'* Teachers everywhere among English-speaking people have hailed 
Mr. Fitch's work as an invaluable aid for almost every kind of instruc- 
tion and school organization. It combines the theoretical and the prac- 
tical ; it is based on psychology ; it gives admirable advice on every- 
thing connected with teaching— from the furnishing of a school-room 
to the preparation of questions for examination. Its style is singularly' 
clear, vigorous and harmonious." 

Chicago Intelligence.— *' All of its discussions are based on sound 
psychological principles and give admirable advice." 

Virginia Educational Journal.— "He tells what he thinks so as to 
be helpful to all who are striving to improve." 

Lynn Evening Item.—" He gives admirable advice.'* 

Philadelphia Record.—" It is not easy to imagine a more useful vol- 
ume." 

Wilmington Every Evening.—" The teacher wlU find in it a wealth 
of help and suggestion." 

Brooklyn Journal.—" His conception of the teacher is a worthy ideal 
for all to bear in mind." 

New England Journal of Education : " This is eminently the work of 
a man of wisdom and experience. He takes a broad and comprehensive 
view of the work of the teacher, and his suggestions on all topics are 
worthy of the most careful consideration." 

Brooklyn Eagle: "An invaluable aid for almost every kind of in- 
struction and school organization. It combines the theoretical and the 
practical ; it is based on psychology ; it gives admirable advice on everv- 
thing connected with teaching, from the furnishing of a school-room to 
the preparation of questions for examination." 

Toledo Blade : " It is safe to say, no teacher can lay claim to being 
well informed who has not read this admirable work. Its appreciation 
is shown by its adoption by seveml State Teachers' Reading Circles, as 
a work to be thoroughly read by its members." 



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20 E, L, KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

The "Practical Teacher . 

Writings of Francis W. Parker, Principal of Cook Co. 
Normal School, 111., and other educators, among which is 
Joseph Payne's Visit to German Schools, etc. 188 large 
8vo pages, 7KxlO>^ inches. Cloth. Price, $1.50; to 
teaxihers, $1.20 ; by mail, 14 cents extra. New edition in 
paper cover. Price, 75 cents ; to teachers, 60 cents ; by 
mail, 8 cents extra. 

These articles contain many things that the readers of the 
** Talks on Teaching" desired light upon. The space occupied 
enabled Col. Parker to state himself at the length needed for 
clearness. There is really here, from his pen (taking out the 
writings of others) a volume of 830 pages, each page about the 
size of those in *' Talks on Teaching." 

1. The writings in this volume are mainly those of Col. F. 
W. Parker, Principal of the Cook County Normal School. 

2. Like the ^* Talks on Teaching" so famous, they deal with 
the principles and practice of teaching. 

3. Those who own the ** Talks" will want the further ideas 
from Col. Parker. 

4. There are many things in this volume written in reply to 
inquiries suggested in *' Talks." 

5. There is here really 750 pages of the size of those in 
'' Talks." '' Talks " seUs for $1.00. This for $1.20 and 14 cents 
for postage. 

6. Minute suggestions are made pertaining to Reading, 
Questions, Geography, Numbers, History, Psychology, Peda- 
gogics, Clay Modeling, Form, Color, etc. 

7. Joseph Payne's visit to the German schools is given in 
full ; everything from his pen is valuable. 

8. The whole book has the breeze that is blowing from the 
New Education ideas ; it is filled with Col. Parker's spirit. 

PARTIAL LIST OF CONTENTS- 

Be^nnings. Reading-— laws and principles ; Ruling Slates ; Number 
and Arithmetic; Geography; Moulding; History; Psychology; Peda- 
gogics; Examinations; Elocution; Questioning on Pictures; on Flow- 
ers ; on Leaves ; Rules in Language : Answers to questions respecting 
the Spelling-Book ; List of Children's Books on History ; The Child's 
Voice; Ideas before Words; Description of Pictures; Teaching of 1; 
of 2; of 3; of 4; etc. ; Form and Color; Breathing Exercises; Paper 
Folding ; V erbatim report of lessons given in Cook Co. Normal School. 
Busy Work ; Answers to Questions in Arithmetic, etc. ; Why teachers 
drag out a monotonous existence ; Teaching of language to children ; 
Supplementary Reading— list of books ; Structural Geography ; Letters 
from Germany ; Hand and Eye Training ; Clay Modeling ; List of Edu- 
cational Works ; Joseph Payne's visit to German Schools, etc., etc. 



SEND Alili ORDERS TO 

E. L. KELLOGG <Sb CO., NEW YORK <& CHICAGO. 21 





^^S 



7AIND5TUDIES' 

yoUNG TEACHERS. 

' By 

! JEROME-ALLEN PH-D- 




Tbe Reading Circle Library. 

No. 1 . Allen's Mind Studies for Young Teachers 

By Jerome Allen, Ph.D., 
Associate Editor of the 
School Journal, formerly 
President of the St. Cloud 
( Minn. ) Normal School. 
16mo, large, clear type, 
128 pp. paper cover. Price, 
30 cents ; to teachers, 24 
cents ; by mail, 3 cents 
extra. Limp cloth, 50 
cents ; to teachers, 40 cents; 
by mail, 5 cents extra. 
Special rates for quanti- 
ties. Fourth thousand now 
ready. 

This little volume attempts 
to open the subject of Psychol- 
ogy in a plain way, omitting 
what is abstruse and difficult. 
It is written in language easily 
comprehended, and has prac- 
tical illustrations. It will be wanted by teachers. 

1. Some knowledge of Mental Science is indispensible to the 
teacher. He is dealing with Perception, Attention, Judg- 
ment. He ought to know what these mean. 

2. The relation between Teaching and Mind Growth is 
pointed out ; it is not a dry treatise on Psychology. 

3. It is a work that will aid the teacher in his daily work in 
dealing with mental facts and states. 

Popular Educator.—" The teacher will find in it much information as 
well as incitement to thought." 

Tared Sanford, School Com., Mt. Vernon, N. Y.— " From all points of 
view it must prove of great worth to those who read it. To the earnest 
teacher in search of information concerning the principles of Psychol- 
ogy it is to be highly commended." 

Irwin Shepard, Pres. Normal School. Winona, Minn.-—" I am much 
pleased with it. It certainly fills a wanr. Most teachers need a smaller 
briefer, and more convenient Manual than has before been issued." 

S. G. Love, Supt. School, N. Y.— '' I want to say of it that it is an 
excellent little book. Invaluable for building up the young teacher 
in that kind of knowledge indispensable to successful teaching to-day." 

Prof. Edward Brooks,— ** The work will be very useful to young 
teaehens." 



m 



., „,EL KELLOGG- 6'CO 
MA NEW yoRK&'CHICACO 




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No. 2. Autobiography of Froebel. 

Materials to Aid a Comprehension of the Works of the 
Founder of the Kindergarten. 16mo, large, clear type, 
128 pp. Unique paper cover. Price, 30 cents ; to 
teachers, 24 cents ; by mail, 3 cents extra. Bound in limp 
cloth, 50 cents ; to teachers, 40 cents ; by mail, 5 cents 
extra. 

This little volume will be welcomed by all who want to get 
ft good idea of Froebel and the kindergarten. 

1. The dates connected with 
Froebel and the kindergarten 
are given, then follows his 
autobiography. To this is 
added Joseph Payne's esti- 
mate and portrayal of Froe- 
bel, as well as a summary of 
Froebel's own views. 

2. In this volume the stu- 
dent of education finds ma- 
terials for constructmg, in an 
intelligent manner an estimate 
and comprehension of the kin- 
dergarten. The life of Froebel, 
mainly by his own hand, is 
very helpful. In this we see 
the working of his mind when 
a youth ; he lets us see how 
he felt at being misunder- 
stood, at being called a bad boy, and his pleasure when face 
to face with nature. Gradually we see there was crystallizing 
in him a comprehension of the means that would bring har- 
mony and peace to the minds of yoimg people. 

3. The analysis of the powers of Froebel wiU be of great 
aid. We see that there was a deep philosophy in this plain 
German man ; he was studying out a plan by which the 
usually wasted years of young children could be made pro- 
ductive. The volume will be of great value not only to every 
kindergartner, but to all who wish to understand the philoso- 
phy of mental development. 

La. Journal of Education.— "An excellent little work.' 

W. Va. School Journal.—" Will be of great value." 

Educational Courant, Ky.— " Ought to have a very extensive circu- 
lation among the teachers of the country." 

Educational Record, Can.—'* Ought to be in the hands of every pro- 
fessional teacher." 




PRIBDRICH FROEBEL. 




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No. 3. Hughes' Mistakes in Teaching. 

By James L. Hughes, Inspec- 
tor of Schools, Toronto, Can- 
ada. Cloth, 16mo, 115 pp. 
Price, 50 cents ; to teach- 
ers, 40 cents ; by mail, 5 
cents extra. 
Thousands of copies of the old 
edition have been sold. The 
new edition is worth double the 
old ; the material has been in- 
creased, restated and greatly 
improved. Two new and im- 
portant Chapters have been 
added on '' Mistakes in Aims," 
and *' Mistakes in Moral Train- 
ing." Mr. Hughes says in his 
preface : ^* In issuing a revised 
edition of this book it seems 
fitting to acknowledge grate- 
fully the hearty appreciation 
that has been accorded it by 
American teachers. Realizing as I do that its very large sale 
indicates that it has been of service to many of my fellow 
teachers, I have recognized the duty of enlarging and revis- 
ing it so as to make it still more helpful in preventing the 
common mistakes in teaching and training." 

Ninety-Six important mistakes are corrected in this 
book. This is the only edition authorized by the writer. 

The Schoolmaster (England)— *'His ideas are clearly presented." 
Boston Journal of Education.—" Mr. Hughes evidences a thorough 
study of the philosophy of education. We advise every teacher to invest 
the 



50 cents in the purchase of this useful volume." 

New York School Journal.—" It will help any teacher to read this 
book." 

Chicago Educational Weekly.—" Only long experience could fur- 
nish the author so fully with materials for sound advice." 

Penn. Teacher's Advocate.— ''It is the most readable book we have 
seen lately." 

Educational Journal of Virginia.—" We know no book that contains 
so many valuable suggestions.'' 

Ohio Educational Monthly.—" It contains more practical hints than 
any book of its size known to us." 

Iowa Central School Journal.—" We know of no book containing 
more valuable suggestions." 

Kew York School Bulletin—" It is sensible and practical." 



JAMES li. HUGHES. 



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24 E. L. KELLOGG <& CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 

No. 4. Hughes' Securing and Retaining Atten- 
tion, 

By James L. Hughes, Inspector Schools, Toronto, Canada. 
Author of Mistakes in Teaching. Cloth, 116 pp. Price, 
50 cents ; to teachers, 40 cents ; by mail, 5 cents extra. 

This valuable little book has already become widely known 
to American teachers. This new edition has been almost 
entirely re-written and several new important chapters 
added. It is the only edition authorized by the author. The 
testimonials to the old edition are more than deserved for the 
new one. 

Educational Times. England.—" On an important subject, and 
admirably executed." 

School Guardian. England.—" We unhesitatingly recommend it." 
New England Journal of Education.— "The book is a guide and a 
manual of special value." 

New York School Journal.—'' Every teacher would derive benefit 
from reading this volume." 

Chicago Educational Weekly.— " The teacher who alms at best suc- 
cess should study it." 

Phil. Teacher.— "Many who have spent months in the school-room 
would be benefitted by it." 

Maryland School Journal.—" Always clear, never tedious." 

Va. Ed. Journal.—" Excellent hints as to securing attention." 

Ohio Educational Monthly.—" We advise readers to send for a copy." 

Pacific Home and School Journal.— "An excellent little manual." 

Prest. James H. Hoose, State Normal School, Cortland, N. Y., says :-- 
"The book must prove of great benefit to the profession." 

Supt. A. W. Edson, Jersey, City, N. J., says:— "A good treatise has 
long been needed, and Mr. Hughes has supplied the want." 

No. 5. The Student's Calendar- 

For 1888. Compiled by N. O. Wilhelm. Elegant design 
on heavy cardboard, 9x11 inches, printed in gold and 
color. Trice, 60 cts. ; to teachers, 48 cents. ; by mail, 8 cts. 
In book form, for any year, paper cover. Price, 30 cts. ; 
to teachers, 24 cts. ; by mail, 3 cts. extra. 

This beautiful, novel, and useful calendar is designed to 
assist teachers in preparing exercises for Memorial Days, 
and also to suggest topics for ** talks," compositions, etc. The 
idea is entirely new. Opposite each date is a very short life 
of some great man who was born or died on that day. The 
design is superb, and printing, etc., tasteful and elegant, 
making it an ornament for any room. 



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E. L. KELLOGG <& CO,, NEW YORK <& CHICAGO. 25 

Teachers' Manuals Series. 

Each is printed in large, 
clear type, on good paper. 
Paper cover, price 15 
cents ; to teachers, 12 
cents ; by mail 1 cent ex- 
tra. Liberal discount in 
quantities. 
There is a need of small 
volumes — ^'Educational 
tracts," that teachers can 
carry easily and study as they 
have opportunity. The fol- 
lowing six have been already 
selected. Every one is a gem. 
To call them the '' Education- 
al Gem" series would be 
more appropriate. 

It should be noted that 
while our editions of these 
little books are as low in 
price as any other, the side 
heads, topics and analyses 
inserted by the editors, as well as the excellent paper and 
printing, make them far superior in every way to any other. 

No. 1. FITCH'S ART OF QUESTIONING. 

By J. G. Fitch, M. A., author of " Lectures on Teaching." 38 pp. 

Already widely known as the most useful and practical essay on 
this most important part of the teachers' lesson-hearing. 
No. 2. FITCH'S ART OF SECIJRING ATTENTION. 

By J. G. FiTOH, M. A., 39 pp. 

Of no less value than the author's "Art of Questioning." 
No. 3. SIDGWICK'S ON STIMULUS IN SCHOOL. 

By Arthur Sidgwick, M. A. 43 pp. 

" How can that duU, lazy scholar be pressed on to work up his lessons 
with a will." This bright essay will tell how it can be done. 
No. 4. YONGE'S PRACTICAL WORK IN SCHOOL. 

By Charlotte M. Yonge, author of " Heir of Redclyffe.'* 35 pp. 

AU who have read Miss Yonge's books will be glad to read of her 
views on School Work. 

No. 5. FITCH'S IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OF TEACHING. 

By J. G. Fitch, M. A. 25 pp. 

This thoughtful, earnest essay will bring courage and help to many 
a teacher who is struggling to do better work. It includes a course of 
study for Teachers' Training Classes. 
No. 6. GLADSTONE'S OBJECT TEACHING. 

By J. H. Gladstone, of the London ^Eng.) School Board. 25 pp. 

A short manual full of practical suarsestions ou Object Teachir-g. 




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26 E. L. KELLOGG <& CO., NEW YORK <Sb CHICAGO. 

Kellogg s School cManagement : 

** A Practical Guide for the Teacher in the School-Eoom." 

By Amos M. Kellogg, A.M. Sixth edition. Revised and 

enlarged. Cloth, 128 pp. Price, 75 cents ; to teachers, 60 

cents ; by mail, 5 cents extra. 

This book takes up the most difficult of all school work, 

viz. : the Government of a school, and is filled with original 

and practical ideas on the subject. It is invaluable to the 

teacher who desires to make his school a *' well-governed" 

school. 

1. It suggests methods of awakening an interest in the 
studies, and in school work. ''The problem for the teacher," 
says Joseph Payne, *' is to get the pupil to study." If he can do 
this he will be educated. 

2. It suggests methods of making the school attractive. 
Ninety-nine hundredths of the teachers think young people 
should come to school anyhow ; the wise ones know that a 
pupil who wants to come to school will do something when 
he gets there, and so make the school attractive. 

3. Above all it shows that the pupils will be self -governed 
when well governed. It shows how to develop the process of 
self-government. 

4. It shows how regular attention and courteous behaviour 
may be secured. 

5. It has an admirable preface by that remarkable man and 
teacher, Dr. Thomas Hunter, Pres. N. Y. City Normal College. 

Home and School.—'* Is just the book for every teacher who wishes 
to be a better teacher." 

Educational Journal.—" It contains many valuable hints." 

Boston Journal of Education.— "It is the most humane, instructive, 
original educational work we have read in many a day." 

Wis. Journal of Education.—" Commends itself at once by the num- 
ber of ingenious devices for securing order, industry, and interest. 

Iowa Central School Journal.—" Teachers will find it a helpful and 
suggestive book." 

Canada Educational Monthly.—" Valuable advice and useful sugges- 
tions." 

Normal Teacher.—" The author believes the way to manage is to civ- 
ilize, cultivate, and refine." 

School Moderator.—" Contains a large amount of valuable reading ; 
school government is admirably presented." 

Progressive Teacher.— " Should occupy an honored place in every 
teacher's library." 
Ed. Courant.— "It will help the teacher greatly.' 
Va. Ed, Journal,—" The author draws from a large experience." 



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Johnsons Education by "Doing . 

Education by Doing : A Book of Educative Occupations 

for Children in School. By Anna Johnson, teacher to 

the Children's Aid Schools of New York City. With a 

prefatory note by Edward R. Shaw, of the High School of 

lonkers, N. Y. Handsome red cloth, gilt stamp. Price, 

75 cents ; to teachers, 60 cents ; by mail, 5 cents extra. 

Thousand of teachers are asking the question : '' How can I 

keep my pupils profitably occupied?" This book answers 

the question. Theories are omitted. Every line is full of 

instruction. 

1. Arithmetic is taught with blocks, beads, toy-money, etc. 

2. The tables are taught by clock dials, weights, etc. 

3. Form is taught by blocks. 

4. Lines with sticks. 

5. Language with pictures. 

6. Occupations are given. 

7. Everything is plain and practicaL 

EXTRACT FROM PREFACTORY NOTE. 

" In observing" the results achieved by the Kindergarten, educators 
have felt that Froebei's great discovery of education by occupations 
must have something for the public schools— that a further application 
of * the putting of experience and action in the place of books and 
abstract thinking,' could be made beyond the fifth or sixth year of the 
child's life. This book is an outgrowth of this idea, conceived in the 
spirit of the *New Education.' 

" It will be widely welcomed, we believe, as it gives concrete methods 
of work —the very aids primary teachers are in search of. There has 
been a wide discussion of the subject of education, and there exists no 
little confusion in the mind of many a teacher as to how he should im- 
prove upon methods that have been condemned." 

Supt. J. W. Skinner, Children's Aid Schools, says:— "It is highly 

appreciated by our teachers. It supplies a want felt by all." 

Toledo Blade.—" The need of this book has been felt by teachers." 

School Education.—" Contains a great many fruitful suggestions." 

Christian Advance.— " The method is certainly philosophical." 

Va. Ed. Journal.—" The book is an outgrowth of Froebei's idea." 

Philadelphia Teacher.—" The book is full of practical information." 

Iowa Teacher.— "Kellogg's books are all good, but this is the best 
for teachers. 

The Educationist.—" We regard It as very valuable." 

School Bulletin.—" We think well of this book, " 

Chicago Intelligence,—" Will be found a very serviceable book.** 



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28 E. L. KELLOGG & CO., NEW YORK <& CHICAGO. 

Southwick^s Handy Helps. 

Handy Helps. A Manual of Curious and Interesting Infor- 
piation. By Albert P. Southwick, A.M., Author of 
'* Quizzism and Its Key," etc. IGmo, cloth, 290 pp. Price, 
$1.00 ; to teachers, 80 cents ; by mail, 8 cents extra. 

1. This volume contains five hundred questions that are of 
interest to every reading man and woman in the United 
States. To hunt up an answer to even one of these would 
require sometimes days of research. 

2. The volume will be valuable to the teacher especially, 
because he is surrounded with an inquiring set of young 
beings. For instance, '* What is the origin of the term John 
Bull?" If asked this the teacher might be unable to answer 
it, yet this and many other similar queries are answered by 
this book. » 

Such a volume can be used in the school-room, and it will 
enliven it, for many young people are roused by the questions 
it contains. Something new can be found in it every day to 
interest and instruct the school. It is an invaluable aid in 
oral teaching, unequaled for general exercises, and interesting 
dull pupils. 

4. It will afford refined entertainment at a gathering of 
young people in the evening, and really add to their knowl- 
edge. 

5. The queries in it pertain to matters that the weU- 
inf ormed should know about. Here are a few of them : 

Animal with Eight Eyes ; The Burning Lakes ; Boycotting ; 
Burial Place of Columbus ; Bride of Death ; Bluebeard's Cas- 
tle ; City of the Violet Crown ; Dead Sea Fruit ; Doors that 
are Books ; Derivation of the words. Uncle Sam ; First use of 
the expression, ** Defend me from my friends"; Flogged for 
Kissing his Wife ; How Pens are SHt ; Key of the Ba stile ; 
Mother Goose ; Origin of All Fooi's Day ; Reason Rhode Island 
has two capitals ; Silhouette ; Simplest Post-office in the 
World; Urnbrella a mile Wide; *^ Sharpshooters" among 
fishes ; Unlucky days for matrimony ; Year with 445 days ; 
Why black is used for mourning ; etc. , etc. 

6. It is a capital book to take on a railroad journey ; it 
entertains, it instructs. 

Home jMirnal.— *' One can scarcely turn a pag-c without finding 
something- ne desires to learn, and which every well-read man ought to 
know. 

Interior. — "Immensely instructive and entertaining in school-rooms, 
families and reading circles. 



ilBM 



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E. L, KELLOGG & CO,, NEW YORK <Sb CHICAGO, 29 

Reception T>ay. 6 ^os. 

A collection of fresh and original dialogues, recitations, 
declamations, and short pieces for practical use in Public 
and Private Schools. Bound in handsome, new paper 
cover, 160 pages each, printed on laid paper. Price 30 
cents each ; to teachers, 24 cents ; by mail, 3 cents extra. 

The exercises in these books bear upon education ; have a 
relation to the school-room. 

1. The dialogues, recitations, 
and declamations, gathered in 
this volume being fresh, short, 
easy to be comprehended and 
are well fitted for the average 
scholars of our schools. 

2. They have mainly been 
used by teachers for actual 
school exercises. 

3. They cover a different 
ground from the speeches of 
Demosthenes and Cicero — 
which are unfitted for boys of 
twelve to sixteen years of age. 

4. They have some practical 
interest for those who use 
them. 

5. There is not a vicious 
sentence uttered. In some 
dialogue books profanity is 
found, or disobedience to 

NEW COVER. parents encouraged, or lying 

laughed at. Let teachers look out for this. 

6. There is something for the youngest pupils. 

7. *' Memorial Day Exercises " for Bryant, Garfield, Lincoln, 
etc. , will be found. 

8. Several Tree Planting exercises are included. 

9. The exercises have relation to the school-room and bear 
upon education. 

10. An important point is the freshness of these pieces. 
Most of them were written expressly for this collection, and 
can he found nowhere else, 

Boston Journal of Education.— " Is of practical value." 
Detroit Free Press.—'' Suitable for public and private schools.*' 
"Western Ed. Journal.— " A series of very good selections,*' 




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80 E, L, KELLOGG <& CO., NEW YORK & CHICAGO. 



Song Treasures. 



THE PRICE HAS JUST BEEN 
GREATLY REDUCED. 



Compiled by Amos M. Kellogg, editor of the School Jouit- 
NAL. Elegant green and gold paper cover, 64 pp. Price, 
15 cents each ; to teachers, 12 cents ; by mail, 2 cents 
extra. 10th thousand. Special terms to schools for 25 
copies and over. 
This is a 
most valua- '■'i""l*i'''''i 
ble collec- 
tion of mu- 
sic for all 
schools and 
institutes. 

1. Most of 
the pieces 
have been se- 
lected by the 
teachers as 
favorites in 
the schools. 
They are the 
ones the pu- 
pils love to 
sing. 

2. All the pieces '' have a ring to them ;" they are easily 
learned, and will not be forgotten. 

3. The themes and words are appropriate for young people. 
In these respects the work will be found to possess unusual 
merit. Nature, the Flowers, the Seasons, the Home, our 
Duties, our Creator, are entuned with beautiful music. 

4. Great ideas may find an entrance into the mind through 
music. Aspirations for the good, the beautiful, and the true 
are presented here in a musical form. 

5. Many of the words have been written especially for the 
book. One piece, '' The Voice Within Us," p. 57, is worth the 
price of the book. 

6. The titles here given show the teacher what we mean : 
Ask the Children, Beauty Everywhere, Be in Time, Cheerfulneas, 

Christmas BeJls, Days of Summer Glory, The Dearest Spot, Evenmg 
Song, Gentle Words, Going to School, Hold up the Riffht Hand, I Love 
the Aferry, Merry Sunshine, Kind Deeds, Over in the Meadows, Our 
Happy School, Scatter the Germs of the Beautiful, Time to Walk, Tne 
Joliy Workers, The Teacher's Life, Tribute to Whittier, etc.. etc 




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Seeleys Grubes Method of Teacbing 

ARITHMETIC. Explained and illustrated. Also the im- 
provements on the method made by the followers of 
Grube in Germany. By Levi Seeley, Ph.D. Cloth, 
176 pp. Price, $1.00; to teachers 80 cents; by mail, 
7 cents extra. 

1. It IS A Philosophical 
Work. — This book has a sound 
philosophical basis. The child 
does not (as most teachers seem 
to think) learn addition, then 
subtraction, then multiphca- 
tion, then division; he learns 
these processes together. Grube 
saw this, and founded his sys- 
tem on this fact. 

2. It Follows Nature's 
Plan. — Grube proceeds to de- 
velop (so to speak) the method 
by which the child actually be- 
comes (if he ever does) ac- 
quainted with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. 
This is not done, as some sup- 
pose, by writing them on a 
slate. Nature has her method ; 
she begins with things; after 

handling two things in certain ways, the idea of two is ob- 
tained, and so of other numbers. The chief value of this 
book then consists in showing what may he termed the way 
nature teaches the child number, 

3. It is Valuable to Primary Teachers.— It begins and 
shows how the child can be tanght 1, then 2, then 3, &c. 
Hence it is a work especially valuable for the primary teacher. 
It gives much space to showing how the numbers up to 10 are 
taught ; for if this be correctly done, the pupil will almost 
teach himself the rest. 

4. It Can Be Used in Advanced Grades.— It discusses 
methods of teaching fractions, percentage, etc., so that it is a 
work valuable for all classes of teachers. 

5. It Guides the Teacher's Work.— It shows, for exam- 
ple, what the teacher can appropriately do the first year, what 
the second, the third, and the fourth. More than this, it sug- 
gests work for the teacher she would otherwise omit. 

Taking it altogether, it is the best work on teaching num* 
her ever published. It is very handsomely printed and bound. 




DR. LEVI SEELEY. 



EIGHTEENTH YEAR! 

TThe S chool J ournal 

-"- is published weekly at $2.50 a year. Amos M. Kel- 

logg and Jerome Allen, two teachers of life-long 
experience and progressive ideas, devote their whole 

"ifc' time to editing it. Established 18 years ago, it is to- 
day the best known and widest circulated educational 

JL, weekly in the country. This reputation has been won 
strictly on its merits, as its subscribers know, and you 
will too (if not now a subscriber), if you send 6 cents 

'A' for a sample copy. 

TENTH YEAR! , 

The T eachers^ I nstitute 

^ is published monthly at $1.25 a year; 12 large 44 page 

papers constitute a year (most other educational 

A mox-.thlies publish but 9 or 10). It is edited by the 

^ same editors as the School Journal, and has, ever 
since it was started in 1878, been the most popular 

^ monthly educational published, circulating in every 
state — a national paper. This was because it was 
practical — little theory and much practice — crammed 

'A' with it. Sample copy 10 cents. 

ELEP'ENTH YEAR! 

T reasure- T rove 

^ is a beautiful illustrated 36 page monthly, for the boys 
and girls. Price, $1.00 a year. We must refer you 
to our descriptive circular for particulars about this 

'A' charming paper, for we have not room here to tell you 
the half of its value. It is used by thousands of 
teachers as an aid to their school room work. 

'At Sample, 10 cents. 

E. L. KELLOGG Sr CO., Educational Publishers, 

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO. 



